Ten Sleep implements plan to improve literacy

By Tracie Mitchell

Staff Writer

TEN SLEEP – During the Ten Sleep School Board's October meeting board, members heard from Ten Sleep School Improvement Coordinator/ Social Studies teacher Dane Weaver about an implemented plan to improve Ten Sleep School student's literacy. The plan was created to address the low reading and English scores Ten Sleep high school students received on last year's ACT and Aspire tests.

"Last time we were here [September school board meeting] we were talking about data; specifically we were talking about ACT and Aspire [tests] data with the high school students. We have fully developed a school improvement plan in conjunction with our faculty and staff," Weaver said.

Weaver went on to explain to the board that the plan implemented is a school wide improvement plan. That minor superficial changes were not what was occurring but sustainable structural changes that will impact students learning immediately. He explained that so many times in education minor superficial changes are temporary. "Because whenever you just put Band-Aids on something blood is going to eventually come."

The literacy plan has four major parts addressing reading, writing, vocabulary and literacy interventions.

Across the nation people are seeing huge gains in literacy in elementary school and huge slides in middle school because elementary teachers always teach literacy, regardless of content while in the upper grades content is the main focus, Weaver said. "Research best practices say that when literacy only lives in the English classroom, you going to have some major problems. If the student is only primarily taught in the English classroom to read, they are not going to be prepared in the other content areas. And if it is only being covered sporadically throughout the other content areas those problems are going to compound. So what we are doing is we are spreading literacy out among all the teachers. No matter what subject, whether it be welding, whether it be music, whether it be social studies every week there will be literacy based practices. There will be reading going on in the classroom," Weaver explained. "Let me make you aware that reading alone is not good enough. Instead every teacher has to teach literacy because literacy is the problem. It's not that students aren't reading enough, we see students reading all the time throughout different classes. The support that we are going to provide is a common strategy for literacy. Teaching a common strategy, that same strategy will be applied in mathematics, science, woodshop, regardless of the class you go to we are all teaching reading, the same reading strategy so there is continuity across the board. This is a huge piece of what we are going to do, is reading across the content area and also teaching reading in the content area," he added.

Weaver stated that reading and writing go hand and hand and the second part of the implemented plan will be to have students writing content based writing twice a week in every class. There will be a standard school rubric so that no matter what class the student is in the grading on their writing will be the same. "Research tells us that obviously reading and writing are interlinked. Also for those of you who have been to college, you innately understand that so much of college is read this, read this and now produce something from that. Being able to read something and reproduce it and write it is that top notch step, it's the highest level of thinking and it's where we as teachers strive to get our kids every day. Extended writing in content area will help us get there."

Part three of the plan involves vocabulary. "Next is disciplinary vocabulary words. Very simple procedure, in every content area we have vocabulary that are absolutely necessary to understand. I'm teaching 20th century history right now and I would dare say that if a student doesn't understand what fascism is, I have a problem. We want to make sure that our kids are understanding the terminology of the content area. They need to see the content, they need to hear the content but more importantly I need to hear those vocabulary words from them. It's a huge component for them be able to use the terminology," Weaver said.

The final part of the plan in literacy interventions, one-on-one time where a student and his/her teacher sit down together and work together to improve the students literacy." If you want major impact from stuff, it comes down to a teacher sitting beside a student, looking at the reading, watching what they are doing. That's where the good stuff happens in school."