Here are some thoughts and updates to our literacy program as we enter the spring season:
1. Notice some changes to the literacy document.
- We now have a tab called "Cal/Text" which shows the dates of exactly when each student was assessed, at what level, and whether they passed. This allows me to quickly know which level (and text set) to begin with as well as to make sure that spring assessments happen roughly six months after fall assessments for each student.
- We also have a new "growth" tab, which I will update at the completion of each assessment. We will track growth both in level as well as deviation from the target grade level. Note that I am using the number equivalents of the TC letters to enable numerical calculations.
- Also note the "SMOG" tab has been moved to the UNMS Leveled Text Database so these titles can be integrated into our master list. The "All Texts" tab may be updated by any teacher at any time who would like to create unofficial levels for the many books in our library that are not leveled by F&P. While these are estimates, it will help us get more books in the library that will match our readers. Some guidelines:
- You may have students help but please review their work and entries. I have trained two students in the method but I still review their decisions before entering them into the database.
- Only use the official F&P website when assigning an F&P level. Sites such as Scholastic and Booksource do not always have the official levels and/or are inaccurate. (I am in the process of reviewing what is in our list and have found several mistakes already.)
- If assigning an "unofficial", "smog", or "RC" level, please explain briefly in the notes section your rationale and other pertinent information.
- All other tabs in the doc should not be touched. They are pivot tables that should update automatically. Please send me any feedback for making this document better.
2. Spring TC assessments will start next week. I still need to finalize the calendar and print out and sort all of the TC "Set 2" assessments. I am also going to update the main pages for each grade (the ones with the narratives) to allow for more dialogue about each student. If anyone has ideas on how this might look, let me know. I'm thinking simply more columns into which classroom teachers (including non-humanities teachers) can include updates, noticings, and interventions. I think it will be important that we identify the moves we're making, especially with our most struggling readers, and the impact they are having. As part of my Literacy PD time I can compile highlights of what we are all doing into a weekly digest and we can discuss further in Humanities Team.
