Reading instruction also a focus at grant-funded event
A two-day workshop at the Veterans Memorial Building June 7 and
8 offered a chance for local teachers to learn about engaging
students as well as how to improve reading instruction.
Aggie Obeso-Bradley, the principal of R.O. Hardin, helped to
coordinate and fund the workshop that was open to K-8 teachers. R.
O. Hardin used money from a Quality Education Investment Act grant
and partnered with the Hollister School District and the San Benito
Office of Education to fund the program.
Nearly 200 teachers and administrators from HSD, San Juan
Elementary School, Sacred Heart Parish School, Mariposa County’s
Lake Don Pedro Elementary School and program coordinators from the
California State University, Monterey Bay’s Calstate Teach program
all attended. All participants were allowed to attend for free
Reading instruction also a focus at grant-funded event
A two-day workshop at the Veterans Memorial Building June 7 and 8 offered a chance for local teachers to learn about engaging students as well as how to improve reading instruction.
Aggie Obeso-Bradley, the principal of R.O. Hardin, helped to coordinate and fund the workshop that was open to K-8 teachers. R. O. Hardin used money from a Quality Education Investment Act grant and partnered with the Hollister School District and the San Benito Office of Education to fund the program.
Nearly 200 teachers and administrators from HSD, San Juan Elementary School, Sacred Heart Parish School, Mariposa County’s Lake Don Pedro Elementary School and program coordinators from the California State University, Monterey Bay’s Calstate Teach program all attended. All participants were allowed to attend for free.
Anita Archer, an author and teaching instructor, led the two-day workshop with lectures, videos and exercises for the teachers. Archer has given lectures in all 50 states and has engagements weekly where she teaches about reading, intervention and engaging students.
Obeso-Bradley first heard Archer talk at a lecture put on by Calstate Teach.
“I went to see her with a few teachers and I was sitting with Liz (Talbot, the director of special programs at the Office of Education) and Susan Villa (the deputy superintendent, educational/personnel services at the office of education),” Obeso-Bradley said. “We said we need her to come here. She was just excellent.”
Midway through the second morning, Archer showed a video that models the way teachers of any subject can help children learn how to sound out words. While the words are different, the steps are always the same. For younger students, they look at the separate syllables and sound them out before blending them into one. Later in the morning, Archer showed a technique for helping middle school children sound out advanced vocabulary. There are five areas involved in teaching children to read – phonemic awareness, decoding, ability to read, fluency or the ability to read more quickly and vocabulary strategy.
“With everything we teach, there are two things we have to attend to – the task and content,” Archer said. “So if we keep the task constant all the cognitive energy goes into the content.”
Talbot, who was also in attendance, said the overall workshop focused on reading instruction, responses to intervention and student engagement.
Archer stressed that all the techniques she was sharing with the teachers are based on research that shows which practices work best in the classroom. One of the methods that works best for students that need some intervention is allowing time for students to work with a teacher in small groups. Archer said it can be time the teacher sets aside during the regular schedule or time after school or with an aide.
“She’s in high demand,” Obeso-Bradley said. “What’s great is, look at how many people we have here.”
She said her staff planned to get together in the fall to review what the learned before they start the semester.
Obeso-Bradley said one of the benefits of the workshop is that it gives teachers a universal language and methods to teach reading to students.
“It’s kind of a common language for our children of best practices, based on research,” she said.
Despite talk of increasing class sizes, Obeso-Bradley added that the suggestion to work with students in small groups is feasible.
“It is a challenge, but it can be done,” she said. “When I started we had 37 to 38 students in a class and we had to do it back then.”
Alice Flores, the regional director of Calstate Teach, attended the workshop with other instructors from the teacher training program.
“Getting someone of her caliber is phenomenal,” she said.
Flores said their interest in Archer’s lecture is because through Calstate Teach they offer instruction to new teachers. They also run a reading center, where they teach teachers about reading instruction.
Though the workshop was free, teachers did have the option of receiving credit for the class from the University of Pacific. For $60, they received one unit for their participation. For $120, they received two units for the two-day training as well as 12-15 hours of follow-up meetings and work to be monitored by Obeso-Bradley.
One of the most important lessons Archer stressed during the day is that by taking a few minutes to review vocabulary in the upper grades, teachers can go a long way to helping students with fluency and comprehension.
After showing a video of a teacher working with upper elementary school students on words from a history lesson, she said: “Is that two minutes and 11 seconds well spent? Yes if they read more fluently and comprehensively.”
