Adolescent Literacy
apply CURRENT READING RESEARCH IN secondary CLASSROOMs
“Adolescent literacy is a shifting landscape where the heights get higher, the inclines steeper and the terrain rockier. Literacy demands change drastically in grades 4-12. So, too, do the students who must meet these demands.”
– “A Time to Act: An Agenda for Advancing Adolescent Literacy for College and Career Success,” by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
As students in grades 4-12 face drastically changing literacy demands, districts need tailored strategies to help every learner thrive—from building foundational skills to advancing disciplinary literacy.
At the HILL, we specialize in equipping educators and districts to meet these challenges through:
Professional Development Series
- A 10-part virtual series (2.5-hour sessions) on research-based topics for effective literacy instruction across all content areas.
- A 4-module asynchronous Small Group Instruction series
Comprehensive Coaching
• Align coaching with professional development to ensure implementation success.
• Specialized coaching for districts implementing new High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM).
Assessment & Intervention Framework
• Build a fully articulated framework to address diverse literacy needs.
• Align student instructional profiles, resources, and interventions.
Training for Content Area Classroom Teachers (Tier 1)
Who Should Take This Course?
Secondary content area teachers. Additionally special educators and reading specialists who are looking to support students in content area classes. (Special educators and reading specialists looking for support in intervention services should take the 3-5 SOR course).
Drive student engagement in content area learning with the Adolescent Literacy Professional Learning Series. Designed specifically for educators in Grades 6-12, this series applies the concepts of disciplinary literacy to provide teachers with techniques and strategies to support literacy development in their subject area. The live, virtual series consists of ten 2.5-hour facilitated, synchronous modules held via Zoom. The self-paced series includes ten 1.5 to 2-hour asynchronous modules. Both versions provide continued learning through asynchronous materials and follow up activities.
The training modules address questions such as:
- What happens in the brain when we read? How can this understanding inform our instruction?
- What are basic, intermediate, and disciplinary literacy? How do these levels impact reading grade level content material?
- How do we plan differentiated instruction to allow all students to access complex text?
- How do we analyze instruction to determine the presence of features of effective instruction?
- What is the importance of vocabulary acquisition? What impact does it have on comprehension?
- What role does strategy instruction play? How do high-leverage instructional routines support constructing meaning from text?
- . . . and much more!
Topics:
MODULE 1: Introduction to Adolescent Literacy
MODULE 2: Features of Effective Instruction
MODULE 3: Using Background Knowledge and Inferencing Skills
MODULE 4: Constructing Meaning While Reading: Get the Gist
MODULE 5: The Role of Vocabulary in Meaning Acquisition
MODULE 6: Self-monitoring and Questioning to Support Meaning Acquisition
MODULE 7: The Role of Fluency and Syntax in Meaning Acquisition
MODULE 8: Text-based Discussion
MODULE 9: The Reading-Writing Connection
MODULE 10: Pulling It All Together: Sustaining Practices
The interactive activities allowed me to engage with the information at a new level and…the application assignments truly provided that practicum piece that many trainings lack.
Kristin Allen, Literacy Specialist, Regional School District 13
I have been applying many of the strategies in my teaching practice and my students have shown improvement in their skills. I look forward to incorporating more of the skills next year.”
Lisa Rapisarda, Swampscott Public Schools
Intervention for Striving Readers (Tier 2)
Empower your teachers to provide impactful Tier 2 intervention for striving readers. The self-paced Small Group Initial Training for Secondary Grades includes 4 modules of in-depth, directed training on how to plan and implement effective Tier 2 intervention to meet a variety of student need, as well as an implementation series of microcourses that provides on-going support to improve instruction and impact student outcomes.
Topics:
MODULE 1: Introduction to Small Group Instruction Foundational Skills
Learning Target: Explain the purpose, structure, and key features of the Foundational Skills Lesson Plan
MODULE 2: The Routines
Learning Target: Describe and deliver all Foundational Skills Routines
MODULE 3: Fluency Lesson Plans
Learning Target: Explain the purpose, structure, and key features of the two Fluency Lesson Plans; Describe and deliver all steps of the Fluency Lesson Plans
MODULE 4: Backward Planning
Learning Target: Backward plan the Foundational Skills and Fluency Lesson Plans
Storyshares Partnership
We have partnered with Storyshares to amplify our goal of tackling adolescent literacy. To find the brand-new intervention curriculum, books, and lesson plans that pair specifically with this course, learn about LIFT at storyshares.org.
While the training described above can be used with any secondary intervention curriculum, the LIFT materials include ready-made scripts & lesson plans, and our training videos show the LIFT decodables in action. The training illuminates the Why and the How behind the curriculum, empowering your teachers to have a greater impact on students in need of foundational skills support.
Check out our recent panel with Storyshares on Targeted Supports for Adolescent Striving Readers!
Bring the HILL to Your Secondary Schools!
Reach out using the form below or call 888.860.0190 today!
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Supported By
