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After 5+ years of developing our literacy beliefs and embedding promising practices, we are currently examining reading resources to help support our work.
We know no one resource will meet all our kids’ needs, yet even the idea of writing an ELA curriculum feels exhausting considering the last three school years.
Where you are on this, and what insights do you have from your experiences?
Right now we are examining three resources: Wit and Wisdom, EL Education, and Core Knowledge. All are highly rated on EdReports.org.
A concern when acquiring a resource like this is it can become the curriculum, and teachers feel like they cannot diverge from the manual to teach readers first. Yet how do we achieve consistency?
The key to me is the professional development/learning/support that needs to accompany any resource we might acquire.
Matt, another idea! Pam Allyn's The Complete Year in Reading and Writing, K-6; theoretically sound instructional guides to meaningful reading, writing, and thinking—with embedded literature and assessment and lots of room for professional decision-making and creative points of departure. Consider ordering one guide to see if the entire set might provide the support your staff is looking for: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Year-Reading-Writing-Kindergarten/dp/0545046335 Truth in disclosure: I was her editor.
This is a question I've been asking myself all year. The classes in my school have a wide range of ability (my school is specifically for kiddos with emotional and behavioral disorders and it affects their academics in different ways). A traditional reading program just doesn't seem like the right fit for our kiddos, so I have been writing a curriculum that can be adapted to developmental levels. It has been A LOT of work choosing materials, developing staff to be able to deliver a curriculum that is so open-ended, and shifting the mindset to teaching based on where the kids are, right now, academically, rather than where they "should be" based on a program. Some days I think "holy cow this would be so much easier with a program" but then on days like today, when I see reading data coming in with reading levels going up like they haven't gone up before, I think "huh, this is good for these students."
Carrie, I share your interest in developing our own curriculum that's more responsive to our students' needs. How do we build that same enthusiasm and capacity with all our colleagues, especially the last two-three years? More a general question for all...
We are also looking at EL Education and Wit and Wisdom but I agree with your concerns. I am the curriculum specialist now, but when I was in the classroom I used a variety of resources including F&P, Lucy Calkins UOS and Pam Allyn's guides, but we have found it is hard for many teachers to create their own curriculum so we had moved exclusively to UOS but that is even more open ended than some teachers like. I hate the idea of teachers being committed to a program and not their learners. If anyone has used EL or Wit & Wisdom I would love to hear your thoughts. I have read that some teachers feel EL is very structured and hard to personalize?
Right now we are examining three resources: Wit and Wisdom, EL Education, and Core Knowledge. All are highly rated on EdReports.org.
A concern when acquiring a resource like this is it can become the curriculum, and teachers feel like they cannot diverge from the manual to teach readers first. Yet how do we achieve consistency?
The key to me is the professional development/learning/support that needs to accompany any resource we might acquire.
Matt, another idea! Pam Allyn's The Complete Year in Reading and Writing, K-6; theoretically sound instructional guides to meaningful reading, writing, and thinking—with embedded literature and assessment and lots of room for professional decision-making and creative points of departure. Consider ordering one guide to see if the entire set might provide the support your staff is looking for: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Year-Reading-Writing-Kindergarten/dp/0545046335 Truth in disclosure: I was her editor.
Thank you Lois. Knowing you were the editor gives me confidence in the resource.
I am engaging in this work now as well. I am interested in what you are finding and what process you are using to review this curriculum.
This is a question I've been asking myself all year. The classes in my school have a wide range of ability (my school is specifically for kiddos with emotional and behavioral disorders and it affects their academics in different ways). A traditional reading program just doesn't seem like the right fit for our kiddos, so I have been writing a curriculum that can be adapted to developmental levels. It has been A LOT of work choosing materials, developing staff to be able to deliver a curriculum that is so open-ended, and shifting the mindset to teaching based on where the kids are, right now, academically, rather than where they "should be" based on a program. Some days I think "holy cow this would be so much easier with a program" but then on days like today, when I see reading data coming in with reading levels going up like they haven't gone up before, I think "huh, this is good for these students."
Carrie, I share your interest in developing our own curriculum that's more responsive to our students' needs. How do we build that same enthusiasm and capacity with all our colleagues, especially the last two-three years? More a general question for all...
We are also looking at EL Education and Wit and Wisdom but I agree with your concerns. I am the curriculum specialist now, but when I was in the classroom I used a variety of resources including F&P, Lucy Calkins UOS and Pam Allyn's guides, but we have found it is hard for many teachers to create their own curriculum so we had moved exclusively to UOS but that is even more open ended than some teachers like. I hate the idea of teachers being committed to a program and not their learners. If anyone has used EL or Wit & Wisdom I would love to hear your thoughts. I have read that some teachers feel EL is very structured and hard to personalize?
Thanks Debbie for commenting. We are just exploring these resources now. I appreciate your comment about "committing to the learners" first.
I love Lucy Calkins UOS. I wish she had some for high school US and World History ready to go, but I am adapting as I can...
Good point Mandy about our tendency to "anchor" ourselves to the present resources. Will they prevent us from venturing out to more promising ideas?