Empowering Teachers to Build a Literacy Program 
Based on the Needs of Students

Terry L. Atkins
Regional Literacy Coach
South Carolina Reading Initiative 

As a Regional Literacy Coach for the South Carolina Reading Initiative (SCRI), I  also facilitate two study groups so that I can most effectively serve District Coaches, who work daily in classrooms with teachers serving in their study groups.  Since the study group approach is seen as the most effective means for staff development, I invited teachers who had not yet participated in a study group to join one that was in its third year of meeting.  I wanted of give them the opportunity to participate in quality staff development, as well as to see what it would be like to integrate experienced members with novice members. This short article tells the story of one new member to the group.

Mrs. Collins, A New Study Group Member, Speaks Up
Mrs. Collins chose to join the study group so that she could learn what best practices were and make changes in her teaching accordingly.  During one session, we were naming the terms used when students were saying the first part of a word then the last part (chunking or onsets and rimes).  We started describing lessons using Cambourne’s Conditions for Learning.  Mrs. Collins interrupted the conversation and said, “This is what I need to know—the terms, the researchers, and the theories.” I suggested that I visit her classroom.

Documenting Mrs. Collins' Current Strategic Teaching
After observing Mrs. Collins’s class during a shared reading and writing session, I was amazed at her use of best practices, not only during shared reading and writing but also as she disciplined students and recognized their need to be children.  She is a valued member of the study group and I believe that she will continue to add research and theory to her already strong knowledge base, empowering herself to resist  mandates and outsiders dictating to her how she should conduct her literacy instruction. Here are some of the strengths in her teaching that I was able to observe.

1) Asking Students to Share Their Reading Strategies
During a shared reading session, Mrs. Collins previewed the Big Book by getting the students to preview the title and illustration on the cover.  As the students said the title and author, they made predictions about the story.  She asked each student who made a prediction to use a complete sentence.

When she introduced new words in the text, she connected the words to "lightning words" and word wall words.  She put the words in a sentence and asked each student to use the word in a sentence.  As she introduced new words, students immediately started showing their strategies.  One student said, “I see a little word in a big word.”  Another one said, “It sounds like __________ (a word wall word).  Another student said, “The first part of the word is the same sound as the word __________.”

2) Adjusting Curriculum Engagements in Response to Student Behavior
Noticing that a lot of students were fidgeting during the reading of the pictures and making predictions, Mrs. Collins recognized this and told the class that they needed a “word stretch” break.  Students did stretching exercises by stretching the spelling of new words.  When she returned to the Big Book, she had all the students’ attention.

As students predicted what would happen on each page of the Big Book, she stopped at the next to last page, telling students she wouldn’t want to give away the ending until tomorrow when they read the text. The students all begged and pleaded to know what was on the last page.  Mrs. Collins had all of them eager to read the story the next day so that they could know the ending.

As a reward for their wonderful work that morning, students played a word game with music.  During the game students worked with words, rhyme, and rhythm.  They even lined up from left to right just the way they would read a picture book.

3) On-going Assessment of Learning
After writing and drawing a picture about a few of the new words, students were instructed to read the room or read a book while she held a reading conference with a student.  Mrs. Collins, like all teachers, is asked to note the behavior of her students as readers in a kidwatching notebook so that she can compare her notes with other SCRI teachers.  They will decide if taking kidwatching notes can serve as a tool to monitor students’ behaviors individually and as a planning tool for the next reading and writing lessons for individuals, groups, or the whole class.

Observing Students During Independent Reading 
After the shared reading and writing activities students were given two choices—read the room or read a book.  Students immediately spread out all over the room. 

Two students went to a reading table that involved reading a picture book and a word game.

Two other students moved around the room reading the walls.  Students not pictured imitated Mrs. Collins’s review of  "lightning words," numbers, and word wall words by grabbing the pointers stashed in a corner of the room.

Two students pulled picture books from the reading library and went to the  reading chairs.  They read independently for more than 15 minutes.  Another student had the honor of reading in the Reading Rocket, which was built after reading a book on space and astronauts. I was struck by the seriousness with which each student worked during this time. 

Two students reading at the reading table from a rich variety of reading materials offered to kindergarten students, a grade in which they are considered to be emergent readers.

Mrs. Collins had also published students’ earlier work by creating a notebook of class projects.  It has proven to be one of the most popular reading options in the class.  She noted that a student grabs this book each time the class is given independent reading time.

Final Thoughts
It is evident that Mrs. Collins has instilled in her kindergarten students the fact that they are readers and writers, an important tenet of the work we are doing in SCRI. It was easy to observe all of the students as valued, motivated learners who have been initiated into what Frank Smith calls “The Literacy Club.”  Mrs. Collins is a valued new member of the study group, one who is committed to her own new learning and sharing her teaching strategies with others. Inviting new members into our study group has worked well.