Voyager Sopris Learning EDVIEW360 Podcast Series

Accommodations act as a bridge to the curriculum for students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. Within our classrooms and schools, mindful considerations must be made to ensure accommodations are meaningful supports, accessible to students, and designed with the student in mind to act as a vehicle for learning. During this session, we will dig into how we can introduce and address accommodations within classrooms to remove the stigma or shame that may accompany their use and instead focus on building and preserving self-esteem and developing agency.    

Attendees will learn:

1. How mindful and intentional application of accommodations sets students with dyslexia up for success.
2. Key recommendations for supporting students with dyslexia in the academic setting.
3. A deeper understanding of high- and low-tech accommodations within the classroom.

Join us for this fascinating and applicable presentation! Literacy expert and educator Amie Burkholder (@literacyedventures) will share what the research says about phonics instruction and five approaches to teaching it that you can implement it in practical ways within your own classrooms. 

Phonics (and phonemic awareness) is the road to fluency and comprehension. Creating explicit and systematic instruction in this area is critical for all students to succeed and become fluent readers and writers. 

Participants will walk away with a solid foundation of how to execute an explicit lesson and a tool kit of resources to get them started. All registrants who attend the live webinar will receive a free resource.

We hope you’ll join us!

When it comes to phonics instruction, our students need to be doing the hard work of learning. Leveraging high-impact routines and opportunities for practice can create a classroom climate that facilitates this hard work. Literacy expert Hannah Irion-Frake will walk you through the why and how of phonics instruction and show you how you can help your students master phonics concepts forever. 

Join us for this informative and practical webinar to learn research-based phonics routines that will create consistent practice opportunities for your students.

Attendees will learn: 

• High-impact, research-based phonics routines that are low-prep and easy to implement
• How to set up consistent instructional routines for phonics in an elementary classroom
• Key components of a phonics lesson, including direct instruction and student practice
• How to monitor student progress in response to phonics instruction

When it comes to helping students learn to read even better, it takes a seasoned expert to provide insight and guidance on what really works. Susan Ebbers is that expert: she knows what it takes to help all students—struggling or not—become even better at reading, and this presentation will showcase her proven strategies and approaches.

Ebbers will focus on how to support emerging and advancing readers through various aspects of word structure, including phonetically regular words, irregular words, syllable and morpheme analysis.

Attendees will learn:

• How to achieve a reading progression from simple texts with basic words to more advanced and academic texts containing morphologically complex words with multiple syllables
• The importance of using a blend of narratives, riddles, poems, and informational texts for this age group
• How to use pre- and post-reading activities to boost literacy
• Methods for motivating struggling readers with decodable books designed for success
• And much more!

We hope you’ll join us.

While attention has increased for young readers who are striving, older readers—students in grades 5–12—need special attention to help gain the literacy skills that will serve them after their academic careers. Our expert teacher Jason DeHart has worked for much of his career with middle and high school students who struggle with reading, and he has some time-honored strategies and skills to share with other educators.

Join us for DeHart’s engaging presentation, which will focus on 10 ways to help the older reader who is still working through developmental skills. You’ll learn about new ideas and strategies, all of which are flexible enough to be adapted to meet a variety of student needs, and come from a teacher and researcher whose work has been centered around solving the mystery of how to help older readers further develop literacy. 

You’ll leave this presentation with a new understanding of how to help older readers who struggle, specifically:

• How to simultaneously link comprehension and word work
• Key steps in thinking about how to build literacy engagement with readers across languages
• How to minimize background knowledge building and include more reading in instruction
• How to develop lessons around grammar and vocabulary in context so more reading practice can occur
• Ways to build a comfortable learning environment for the resisting reader
• Thoughtful steps to use visuals and graphic organizers not as replacements but enhancement for breaking down words
• Thoughtful ways to use curriculum and resources so teachers are not “reinventing the wheel”
• Information about the value of developing fluency with older readers, including specific strategies for this work and the role of phonics for older readers
• Ways to take what we know about younger readers and adapt this work for the adolescent/older reader

Direct Instruction (DI) is a highly structured method of teaching based on the assumption that all students can learn if given appropriate instruction. Decades of research shows this method of teaching can help change the stagnant levels of U.S. student achievement. Our expert will share these research results and describe DI’s potential to dramatically change patterns of student achievement in the United States
 

Hundreds of studies show how DI can promote outstanding gains in student achievement and self-confidence. Its positive impact is documented with students from many different backgrounds, in schools with vastly different characteristics, and when compared with all other types of curricula. The gains are both statistically and substantively significant and large enough to dramatically alter current patterns of student achievement. Join noted researcher and educator Dr. Jean Stockard as she describes evidence about DI’s effectiveness, why the programs were and continue to be so successful, why they are not utilized on a large scale in American schools, and most importantly, how they might be used in future years to dramatically reduce school failure and accelerate academic and social success. 

If you’re a policymaker, administrator, or teacher, this presentation is for you! Dr. Stockard will share:
 

• The theory underlying DI, its development, use, and history
• Research from hundreds of different studies regarding DI’s effectiveness looking at students with varying characteristics, in different settings, and studying different areas
• Ways in which the systematic use of DI could alter patterns of student achievement
• What teachers, students, and concerned citizens could do to help bring this about 

Join us for this enlightening presentation featuring our literacy expert who will do some myth busting about Tier 1 instruction. Learn the truth (and the research behind it) as we explore important facts related to Tier 1.

Do you know if these statements are myths or facts?

1. Tier 1 instruction should be done only in a whole group format
2. Classroom teachers are the only staff who can deliver Tier 1 instruction
3. Students who score at benchmark on screening should receive Tier 1 instruction
4. Students should come out of Tier 1 to get their Tier 2 intervention
5. Eighty percent of students should reach benchmark goals with Tier 1 instruction only, no intervention

This session will shed light on common myths and provide actionable alternatives to common MTSS implementation mistakes and misunderstandings. By framing Tier 1 instruction as risk reduction, participants will learn how to improve reading outcomes for all students.

Dr. Stephanie Stollar will share:

1. Definitions of each tier of instruction in the MTSS model
2. Characteristics of effective Tier 1 instruction
3. Strategies for aligning Tier 1 instruction to universal screening data
4. Alternatives to common myths about Tier 1 instruction