Learning Ally

"My Kids Can't Read That!" How to Unlock Text to Read Right Now
2023-01-31 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Is the complex text in your classroom causing a standstill? Many administrators and educators are working tirelessly to align with evidence-based reading instruction, but a crucial gap remains: students can’t access grade-level content. There’s an urgent need for solutions that work right now. Fortunately, immediate, effective strategies exist to help students overcome this challenge. Join literacy leaders Dr. Linda Baker and Dr. Gail Dalcourt as they share effective reading strategies and literacy solutions to help students engage with complex texts and boost literacy culture. They will teach you how to give students access to text in the right format, creating quick literacy wins that immediately impact academic success.

What You’ll Learn

Knowledge-Building is Key: Discover the critical role that knowledge building plays in the journey to reading proficiency.
Manage Demanding Texts: Learn how to successfully manage and navigate the demands of complex, grade-level text.
Immediate Access to Text: Understand how to provide students with immediate access to text through various formats and modalities.

This engaging webinar provides Louisiana educators with practical, actionable steps to unlock the power of reading for all students. Ultimately, you’ll learn how to help students read and comprehend grade-level content using these effective reading strategies.
Watch on-demand now!

Using Decodable Books to Teach Phonics and Word Recognition
2023-01-18 14:00 - 15:00
Reading with fluency and comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction. To become a fluent reader, students must first develop strong word recognition—the ability to identify words accurately and automatically. So, how can educators build this crucial skill? The solution lies in a powerful combination of effective instructional strategies and the right tools, especially decodable books.
In this insightful edWebinar with speaker Barbara Steinberg, we will unlock the secrets to successful phonics and word recognition instruction. You will discover how phonics instruction progresses seamlessly from the sub-word level to the phrase, sentence, and text levels. Furthermore, we’ll explore and apply the core principles of explicit, systematic instruction to maximize student learning immediately.
Key Takeaways for Effective Reading Instruction:
This session provides actionable strategies you can implement right away. You’ll learn how to:

Evaluate instructional routines specifically designed to build both reading accuracy and automaticity.
Develop effective strategies for fluency instruction using decodable texts.
Examine practical small group lessons that demonstrate the power of decodable books for teaching phonics.

This session is essential for K-12 teachers, reading specialists, and school and district leaders who teach beginning reading or support older struggling readers. Don’t miss out! As a bonus, we will also share valuable, free resources to support your instruction.

Sound Walls: The Benefits of Using Them for ALL Students
2022-12-13 14:00 - 15:00
Using a sound wall in your classroom can fundamentally transform reading and spelling instruction! Because of the Science of Reading, we now better understand the critical role of phonetics and phonology in early literacy. Although students learn to speak early, teaching them how speech maps to print often gets missed. Developing strong phonemic awareness must happen before students can achieve automatic sight word reading. Therefore, using a sound wall is essential.
Expert Dr. Mary Ellis Dahlgren will show you how to explicitly teach the 44 speech sounds. You will learn how to make learning more concrete by focusing on articulation—observing what happens with the tongue, teeth, lips, and airflow when producing sounds. This is a vital stepping stone to orthographic mapping so all students can become fluent and proficient readers.
Key Takeaways for Building Reading Fluency:
This session provides clear, practical steps you can use in your daily practice. Educators will:

Learn about the importance of articulation and its direct connection to phoneme awareness.
Understand the strategic layout of a sound wall and why it’s more student-friendly than a traditional word wall.
Analyze common phonological errors students make and discover how to provide effective, corrective feedback.
Examine strategies for engagement as part of daily practice when building a sound wall with consonants and vowel phonemes.

This recorded edWebinar is highly valuable for K-12 teachers, reading specialists, and school and district leaders committed to effective literacy instruction.
Register now!

Disunity in Reading Instruction: The High Cost of Confusion
2022-11-30 02:00 - 03:00
Students follow the instruction their teacher provides. However, if they learn disproven methods, like 3-cueing, in a general education class and then move to decoding methods in intervention, they simply follow the directions for that specific moment. Students cannot possibly know which reading method is appropriate or harmful. This disunity in reading instruction causes confusion, stress, and detrimental outcomes for students and educators alike. Therefore, we must address this critical conflict now.
In this essential edWebinar, we will provide clear examples of the harm that instructional disunity creates. More importantly, you will learn how educators can lead change to implement a unified, effective approach. We will focus specifically on why all schools must adopt evidence-based reading practices across all learning spaces.
Actionable Steps for Unified Literacy Instruction:
This session empowers you to become a change agent within your school or district. Viewers will:

Understand the significant harm and setbacks created for students when disunity in reading instruction is present.
Be convinced of the dire need to teach evidence-based reading practices aligned to the Science of Reading in every space and place where students are learning.
Walk away with immediate, actionable steps on how to begin leading your school toward a unified path of instruction.

This recorded edWebinar is highly relevant for K-12 teachers, reading specialists, and school and district leaders looking to align their literacy programs.
Register to watch!

Dyslexia: Biases, Barriers, and Breakthroughs
2022-10-13 14:00 - 15:00
Research clearly identifies effective interventions for children with dyslexia. Still, the evaluation process remains often unclear and inconsistent. Disturbingly, Black students frequently receive fewer intensive resources to address their challenges. This happens for various reasons, including unconscious biases and lower expectations. An accurate dyslexia diagnosis can change the game for all students. This is especially true for those who risk being left behind if their needs go unmet.
In this vital edWebinar, speaker Jeannette Roberes addresses critical flaws in the evaluation process. She explores key principles impacting marginalized students who often face under- or misdiagnosis. Furthermore, we examine the historical perspective of testing. This helps us understand current systemic barriers to a dyslexia diagnosis.
Key Insights on Dyslexia Evaluation and Equity:
This session provides clear, actionable knowledge for K-12 educators. Viewers will learn:

Specific, identifiable barriers to a dyslexia diagnosis that disproportionately affect marginalized students.
What types of standardized tests make up a complete, thorough dyslexia evaluation.
Which core literacy skills an equitable assessment must meticulously measure.

This recorded edWebinar is essential for K-12 teachers, special educators, and district leaders. We must commit to equitable, research-backed practices to ensure every student gets the support they need.
Register to watch now!

The Simple View of Educational Success: Lessons from the Field
2022-09-20 14:00 - 15:00
What truly makes a school succeed against the odds? In this powerful edLeader Panel, Rebecca Miles, an early literacy coach consultant, shares her compelling practitioner’s story. She recounts the transformation of her former school and her attempts to replicate that success county-wide. Through these experiences, both successful and challenging, she developed a powerful framework: The Simple View of Educational Success. This model provides a clear formula for achieving true equitable instruction.
Rebecca will share lessons learned from schools and their leadership. She identifies critical factors that drive high-performing schools, especially those overcoming significant barriers. Furthermore, she outlines actionable strategies you can use to implement this framework in your own setting, regardless of your school’s starting point.
Key Insights on Educational Leadership and Equity:
This session provides school and district leaders with proven strategies for transformative change. Viewers will:

Examine the components of The Simple View of Educational Success.
Learn how leaders at all levels can foster equitable instruction by focusing on foundational elements.
Hear inspiring real-world examples of schools that achieved remarkable success by applying this simple, yet powerful, framework.
Discover practical steps for implementing this formula to promote systemic school improvement.

This recorded edLeader Panel is essential for K-12 teachers, instructional coaches, and school and district leaders committed to accelerating student achievement through equity and effective leadership.
Register to watch today!
