LETRS: Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling
February 04, 2012
Smoky Hill Education Service Center is excited to continue training this spring in LETRS. LETRS is a professional development series that is designed to provide the deep foundational knowledge that is necessary for students to learn and improve their skills to read, write, and spell. This spring we will be offering 3 modules appropriate for teachers of any grade level in Salina and Hays. One hour of graduate credit from Friends University will be available for those who attend all three modules. For more information contact Rachel Loersch: rloersch@smokyhill.org
Module 4--The Mighty Word: Building Vocabulary and Oral Language addresses varied approaches to vocabulary instruction, including indirect and direct methodologies, and stresses techniques for fostering word use, knowledge of word relationships, and awareness of word structure and its connection to meaning. (Salina-1/24; Hays-1/25)
Module 5—Getting Up to Speed: Developing Fluency includes deliberate fluency building at subword, word, phrase, and text levels for students who do not meet fluency benchmarks. Module 5 reviews the rationale for a fluency component in lesson design. Learn and practice techniques for speed drills, repeated readings, simultaneous and alternate oral reading, calculating reading fluency, and charting the results. (Salina-3/6; Hays-3/7)
Module 6—Digging for Meaning: Teaching Text Comprehension is one of the most researched areas in reading education, yet it remains one of the most challenging. Learn the research base for teaching comprehension, the reasons why children have difficulty with comprehension, and approaches for teaching comprehension at the phrase, sentence, paragraph, and passage levels. Questioning techniques and strategies useful before, during, and after reading are reviewed. Exercises include text analysis (text complexity) for planning instruction. (Salina-4/10; Hays-4/11)
