Welcome! New and Returning Language! Teachers

We hope your year has gotten off to a terrific start with the first day of class out of the way. Please feel free to add ideas or express concerns here at our blog page designed for you. Check back often to view ideas from other teachers and the latest from the Language! Literacy Coaches team.

Placement Testing- Main Phase Complete!!

Throughout the last two weeks your Literacy Coach along with Elementary Curriculum and Instruction Facilitators have been working to administer the Language! Placement Test to all 5th, 7th, and 8th grade students in an effort to fully implement the program across all middle and high school grade levels throughout the district. While there are still some make-up testing still to be "tackled" and graded in-house during the month of May, most of the district students were tested at this time and the materials are now in route to be graded by Sopris with recommendations for next year soon to follow!

New Language! Checklist provided by Sopris

Below you'll find the new and improved Language! checklist which your Literacy Coach will be using upon visit to your classroom. This will be useful in taking your teaching and the program to the next level of implementation.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

Level of Implementation				Component	Comments
P	D	N/E	N/A
				1. Lesson plan evident and clearly driving the daily instruction.
				2. Environment reflects an advanced knowledge of LANGUAGE! concepts and instruction (bulletin boards, materials, etc.)
				3. Student materials are in use (Student Text, Interactive Text, Student Notebooks)
				4. Displayed student work clearly represents exemplary student outcomes for one of the daily 6 Steps
				5. Physical arrangement encourages students to see and hear all parts of the lesson and permits teacher to easily access all students

TEACHING ATTRIBUTES

Level of Implementation				Component	Comments
P	D	N/E	N/A
				6. Instruction follows Teacher Edition steps from sound to text
				7. Instruction contains accurate and clear explanation of concepts and content
				8. Instruction is direct, explicit and differentiated as needed (including providing students “think time” before answering questions)
				9. Instruction paced according to recommended time allocations (minutes per step 10-10-15-15-20-20)
				10. Connections between activities and steps are clearly articulated
				11. There are ample opportunities for guided practice with a high level of teacher direction and interaction
				12. Teacher implementing plan/procedures for catching up students who are absent
				13. Transition between activities is efficient/rapid
				14. Immediate re-teaching, reinforcement and feedback
				15. Assessment data/grading system is updated regularly and clearly used to adjust instruction; teacher using online component

STUDENT BEHAVIORS

Level of Implementation				Component	Comments
P	D	N/E	N/A
				16. Students monitor their own fluency progress
				17. Actively engaged and on task
				18. Display clear knowledge of procedures and routines
				19. Display high level of interaction with teacher
				20. Engage in a variety of appropriate peer interactions
				21. Students regularly use Student Interactive Text as an instructional tool and resource

P-Present (strong aspect) D-Developing (aspect present but needs strengthening)

N/E-Not Evident (observer expected to but did not witness this aspect)

N/A Not Applicable (does not apply to lesson observed/observer was not present for this part of the lesson

Welcome!

Welcome Tennessee Language! Teachers!!!!!

Here's your chance to discuss Language! with other teachers throughout your district or state. As a Literacy Coach for the Knox County School District in our first year of implementation, I felt it important for everyone to have a means of communicating with others who are working to promote literacy in our schools. So here's your chance! Post your questions, comments, needs, requests, concerns, or ideas regarding Language! We'd love to have your input!