TRL Conference takeaways for both students and application in our work with teachers. *Note - During the conference I was dealing with a knee injury that impacted my mobility and therefore my breakout session selections. Many of my selections were based on location or staying in the same room.

Your work matters.

CHAPTER LEADER RETREAT

Because I currently serve as the Chapter President of The Reading League North Carolina, my conference experience began with a Chapter Leader Retreat.

Our first workshop focused on The Reading League’s DEIB statement and the actions we can take as chapters. A poignant question was posed by DeJunne' C. Jackson: “But what about our subgroups?” She pointed out that we must go deeper in our data analysis, looking closely at how ALL students are performing to determine whether our approaches are working. It is too easy to ignore the underperformance of students of color without this deep analysis and focused questioning.

The next workshop focused on leadership with Drs. Tracy Weeden and Danielle “Nell” Thompson. They reminded us that our subgroup data represents CHILDREN. Its an important reframe to data discussions when we center the children in our numbers. What happens to our data-based decisions if we think of them as our own children or family? How might our efforts shift?

Leadership Moves: Go deeper during data meetings and be bold enough to examine your subgroups. Be ready to ask questions that guide educators to analyze why particular groups of students perform differently.

EDUCATORS OF COLOR CONFERENCE COMMUNITY - ALL MEANS ALL

After the retreat, I attended the EoCCC which was a panel discussion facilitated by Dr. Altheria Caldera. Panelists included: Dr. Martha Martinez, Dr. Ale Babino, Clarice Jackson, Dr. Dionna Latimer-Hearn, Dr. Endia J. Lindo, and Dr. Simone Gibson.

This was a session full of important information. Drs. Martinez and Babino discussed how we can support our English Learners within the science of reading. While the need for word recognition skills are the same, we must consider how we develop English language in tandem with content. Speaking two languages is a super power and we can view culture and language as assets during learning. In addition we want to consider the impact of the affective filter. “The affective filter is a metaphor that describes a learner's attitudes that affect the relative success of second language acquisition. Negative feelings such as lack of motivation, lack of self-confidence and learning anxiety act as filters that hinder and obstruct language learning.” (Citation) Learn more in this blog from Collaborative Classroom.

Clarice Jackson asked us to consider the bias and relevance in the content we present; how might we critically examine the materials we select or use in our curricula? Dr. Latimer-Hearn reminded us that different does not equal deficient. Specifically, thinking about African American English (AAE) and reframing our approach, honoring the biliteracy as the asset it is. Educators can deepen their knowledge and understanding of AAE, for example understanding the language variations it presents. Learn more here. Dr. Lindo shared her P.O.E.M.S. framework for multiple strategy comprehension instruction; P.O.E.M.S. is an acronym for Preparatory, Organizational, Elaborative, Metacognitive, and Summarizing. Lastly Dr. Gibson closed by explaining that reading IS identity work stating “Ethnic identity is a twin to linguistic identity.” She further reminded us that we cannot lose sight of the humans we are supporting in this work.

Leadership Moves: Consider the students you serve. Do they bring assets that are being honored by your school or district? Reflect on whether you are supporting ALL students in the instruction your teachers provide. Engage your educators in deepening their understanding of the languages (including AAE), cultures and identities of the students you serve to better plan for instruction.

ZARETTA HAMMOND’S KEYNOTE

Zaretta Hammond kicked off the conference with a keynote session titled Science of Reading for Liberatory Education. One quote has stuck with me: “Competence precedes confidence. Confidence precedes joy.” She shared this in the context of teaching students foundational skills and ensuring they have what they need to build the confidence and then joy of reading. Essentially, we cannot expect students to find joy in reading if they are unable to do it.

She shared the importance of combining the Science of Learning with our work to further the Science of Reading noting the Science of Learning Trifecta: integration, malleability, meaning making. Additionally she shared some reminders that our brains need challenges to learn. “We need our students to be in the learning pit.” When we push our students who have become accustomed to a “pedagogy of compliance” and over-scaffolded lessons, they will resist deeper learning and fight the challenge until they learn to flex those muscles. Teachers can provide care and the push to “do hard things.” (Glennon Doyle)

She provided the history lesson about anti-literacy laws, which was a “cognitive redlining” practice. This lesson reminded me of Gholdy Muhammad’s work in Cultivating Genius and the fact that access to literacy has been used as a tool of oppression in our country. Learn more about this history here. Keeping this history in mind paired with the previous notes about subgroups presents important lessons for leaders; for example, are we asking the right questions about our subgroups? Or are we keeping the status quo?

Leadership Moves: Observe planning sessions and classroom instruction - are students in the learning pit? What level of scaffolding is occurring and is it appropriate? Do you see evidence of the science of learning in plans and instruction? Consider what you and your colleagues are doing to disrupt inequitable practices for our students of color. Engage in conversations or text discussions about the history of Black literacy.

CLOSING THE IMPLEMENTATION GAP

I next attended a breakout session with Kymyona Burk and Casey Sullivan Taylor. They discussed how state policy can “strengthen the bridge to practice, level-setting expectations across the state.”

This session highlighted the tools provided by Excel in Ed that guide policy around The Science of Reading. Did you know that they have a map showing each state’s policy implementation of 18 Early Literacy Fundamental Principles? View your state here.

Something else they highlighted was how often the decision-makers impacting policy are uninformed about evidence-based practices (SoR). We were encouraged to consider how we can educate legislators and school board members in this work and movement to better impact state and district decisions.

Leadership Moves: View your state using the Excel in Ed resources and begin to ask questions around your state’s policies. As a leader, you are making decisions; if you are also uninformed in SoR, you may be perpetuating practices that aren’t backed by evidence. This is what I was referring to in my ASCD article. Learn yourself then connect with other decision-makers and encourage them to do the same.

IS SHE ON GRADE LEVEL?

Another breakout session I attended was with Jan Hasbrouck. She discussed what we can do instead of seeking to know a student’s “level” even when levels help to serve a purpose. For example, levels help us communicate, determine starting points with materials, help track progress, and evaluate program effectiveness. However, this leveling system approach does not focus on the skills the child has or needs, rather often focusing on the materials or program being used. To move away from a leveling approach requires a deep knowledge of reading instruction and the evidence-base, allowing teachers to focus on skills.

Leadership Moves: In the midst of parent conferences season, you may want to reflect on how student progress is communicated. Are teachers clear on students’ strengths and challenges with word recognition and language comprehension skills? If teachers struggle to identify these strengths and challenges, work to develop a deeper knowledge base with the skills students need to become proficient readers. I shared some examples in a previous newsletter.

LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND DEVELOPMENTAL LANGUAGE DISORDER

I attended a session with Tiffany Hogan focused on language comprehension and developmental language disorder (DLD). It was such an interesting session that helped me understand this prevalent but underidentified disorder. People who experience this often have trouble with language such as grammar, semantics, and pragmatics. It can be noticeable when language abilities don’t match cognitive abilities; they might be shy, hesitant, drop sentences, share unclear stories or look to peers for answers.

In 2017 there was an international consensus to name it Developmental Language Disorder. Prior to that, it has been called many names, one reason contributing to being underidentified. Slowly, this is becoming more known and supported through organizations across the globe. One website that has information is dldandme.org.

Leadership Moves: Learn more about DLD (you can do so here). Connect with speech language pathologists and ask them to share more about it with your staff and how to support children with different classroom instructional approaches. This article also has some ideas.

THE SCIENCE OF READING COMPREHENSION

I had previously learned with Dr. Wijekumar and Dr. Lambright during a coffee chat hosted by The Reading League and was excited to hear from them again. They shared their approach to supporting reading comprehension with the goal of focusing on supporting students with developing and understanding the main idea, summarizing and inference with texts. In their approach, they teach children to look for structures like Cause-Problem-Solution in every text, then use sentence frames to help them write the main idea then extend the main idea into a summary before extrapolating inferences.

Leadership Moves: You can learn more about their work and take their MOOV course on their website. I recommend learning more about this before trying to implement it based on my summary. Their work was also published in The Reading League summer 2023 journal.

LINNEA EHRI AND BARBARA FOORMAN KEYNOTE

Dr. Ehri kicked off the keynote sharing her landmark work about orthographic mapping and then her phases. She reminded us that it is a process that we are aiming to support by helping map the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of words into memory. Ehri’s phases move from pre-alphabetic > partial alphabetic > full alphabetic > consolidated alphabetic. You can learn more about the phases here.

Dr. Barbara Foorman closed the keynote by sharing more about her research with The Florida Center for Reading Research and the IES guide Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Grades K-3. I admit, I didn’t take great notes during this keynote session, listening instead.

Leadership Move: I encourage you to learn more about Drs. Ehri and Foorman’s contributions to our work then share with your colleagues.

BUILDING SOLID LITERACY INFRASTRUCTURE

Kristen Wynn (from AIM) highlighted using implementation science as a framework for implementation fidelity. She also discussed the important role leaders play in either tightening or loosening the drivers of successful implementation.

Kristen also shared 4 key moves leaders can take as literacy support:

1. A scheduling audit - adjusting the schedule regularly to match the students being served year to year.
2. Literacy walkthroughs - determine the current state of things to inform a literacy action plan then use for progress monitoring that plan.
3. Data Analysis - looking closely at data throughout implementation and asking if we are looking at the right data to inform our actions.
4. Job Embedded professional development and professional learning - it cannot be one and done and MUST go beyond two day curriculum training.

One quote she shared that has stuck with me is: “We are trying to innoculate literacy.” Much like a vaccine, we are trying to proactively address literacy with actions and foresight, rather than reactively trying to catch up or end up blaming and pointing fingers.

Leadership Moves: Reflect on whether you are creating barriers or removing them for successful implementation. YOU influence the success of implementation and initiatives. Consider the four key moves and how they might guide your literacy supports.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND THE SCIENCE OF READING: BRIDGING THE GAP FOR ELEMENTARY AND ADOLESCENT STUDENTS

In this session, Kari Kurto shared more details about the resources The Reading League recently added to the Compass. If you haven’t yet check it out, BOOKMARK IT NOW. The new section of the Compass is focused on Adolescent Literacy. This page provides resources to deepen your understanding of adolescent literacy needs as well as the NEW Adolescent Reading Intervention Evaluation Guidelines. This critical resource “present[s] critical guidance and helpful information derived directly from scientific reading research. Use this new resource to guide decision-making or to review current intervention materials for adolescent learners.”

Leadership Move: USE THE COMPASS. It is full of important information that can be shared freely from a trusted source. Use this to guide conversation, in-house professional development, etc.

What does this mean for me?

Conferences can be full of important information. Have you considered creating room in the budget to send your staff to a conference? Are you attending one yourself? What conferences might you attend that broaden your learning and supports your leadership? (If you want some recommendations, hit reply!) Don’t forget, conferences can provide great learning experiences, but only if we put them into practice. If something in today’s newsletter intrigues you, DO something with it.

The Reading League Conference will be in Chicago next year and registration is already open. You can learn more about it here.

Revolution Resources

Did you know that I have a self-facilitated book study available? This guide is a companion to the anchor text, The Knowledge Gap. Participants can engage with the course individually or as a group. Texts sets for each chapter are provided. A workbook is provided including journal prompts to encourage reflection. Click on the picture below to check it out.

​​Coaching System Assessment Download the PDF below ​LRC Coaching System Assessment PDF - Final.pdf​ Watch the February workshop about this resource! ​

Literacy System Assessment Download the PDF below ​LRC Literacy System Assessment PDF - Final.pdf​ Watch the webinar about this resource below! ​

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Join us for the last in our Fall Workshop series where we are unpacking the Culture in our Coaching Systems. ​ Register here Watch the Fall Workshop Series Recordings

Listen, Linda a new Spotify playlist I've collected all of my podcast guest appearances in one place. Make sure to follow along for new episodes as they come out! Listen here

Where have we been?

Sharing the Work of Others

Meet Casey Watts Hey! I’m Casey Watts, a speaker, coach, and team alignment strategist. With 20+ years in education, I’ve seen firsthand how challenging it can be to get teams aligned and working toward the same vision. That’s why I now help leaders create strong, cohesive teams through coaching and consulting. If you’re looking for support in building collaboration, aligning instructional strategies, or closing learning gaps, I’d love to chat! Check out more about my work at www.catchingupwithcasey.com.

Let's Work Together

I'm looking ahead to 2025, are you? I welcome discussions about how I can serve you and your school or district with instructional coaching or literacy. Click here to sync our calendars for a conversation.

Where can we connect? Bold font shows events at which I'm presenting. 7/9 - 7/10 - Get Engaged Coaching Con | Learn more here​ 10/8 - 10/10 The Reading League 9th Annual Conference | Learn more here​ ​ Check out my calendar