Literacy Conference Gives Teachers Tools

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Teachers in Arkansas are always looking for new ways to ensure their students learn, and the University of Arkansas is offering them two days’ worth of ideas.

The curriculum and instruction department in the College of Education and Health Professions and the Arkansas Department of Education collaborated on a literacy symposium to be held June 14-15 to help the state’s teachers meet challenges they face in helping their students succeed academically.

The symposium, which includes several breakout sessions for smaller groups, focuses on differentiated literacy for diverse learners. Registration for events at the Fayetteville Town Center and Center for Continuing Education may be made at http://cied.uark.edu/2007Flyer.pdf or on Thursday morning at the Town Center. Cost is $150 per person.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act adds to the pressure teachers feel, said organizers Linda Eilers, assistant professor of childhood education, and Tom Smith, professor of special education. Signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act is intended to close the achievement gap for students by 2014 by ensuring that all children can read and do math at their grade level. The law requires annual standardized tests for students in grades three through eight to evaluate their progress and revise curriculum.

“There are all sorts of barriers to why a child doesn’t become a skilled reader, including family situations, poverty and disabilities,” Eilers said. “Students don’t all come into a classroom with the same interests, abilities, experiences and motivation, but teachers are still held accountable for adequate yearly progress.”

States are required to correct problems in school districts that fall short — or in the law’s terms — don’t make adequate yearly progress. Classroom teachers must differentiate instruction to reach students on all levels, Eilers said.

“You can’t teach to the middle and expect to make adequate yearly progress,” she said.

Smith said teachers attending the symposium would take with them new and better ways to teach literacy.

“We’re going to provide teachers with a great deal of knowledge and skills, to motivate them to implement some ideas, give them a new sense of purpose,” he said.

One of the speakers at the conference, Carol Ann Tomlinson, who is on the faculty of the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, is considered one of the nation’s top experts in differentiated learning. The author of more than 100 articles, book chapters, books and other professional development materials, Tomlinson will offer 10 guidelines educators can use for developing literacy in academically diverse classrooms.

Maureen McLaughlin, a professor of reading education at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania and a member of the board of directors of the International Reading Association, will discuss creativity and innovation in content area teaching as well as how to increase reading comprehension. Ted Hasselbring, professor of special education at Vanderbilt University, will provide information on using technology to help struggling readers. The conference will address literacy issues on both elementary and secondary levels.

Joyce Elliott, former state legislator from Little Rock, will give the lunchtime address Thursday. Elliott, who previously taught high school English, works as director of legislative outreach for the southwest region of College Board, a nonprofit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Her address at 11:45 a.m. in the Town Center is titled “Deconstructing Classic Boundaries: The Democratization of Literacy.”

A complete list of speakers, including biographical information, and the schedule can be found at http://cied.uark.edu/ScheduleOfEvents.pdf. Some speakers and teachers will be available to the media for interviews.

Nearly two dozen teachers from T.G. Smith Elementary School in Springdale attended the literacy conference last year, and the school plans to send another contingent this year. Cynthia Voss, principal at Smith, said the conference provided practical information to her teachers who are constantly trying to address different learning needs of children.

“We’re going again this year because of what we learned last year,” Voss said. “We were at a point in our curriculum and as a school that we needed answers about how to put all this together. We had the big idea, but we needed to know how to apply the information and make it work in the classroom.”

Susan Gage, one of the Smith Elementary teachers who attended last year’s conference, said it gave the teachers additional strategies to use in their classrooms.

“We have high expectations for all students, whether they are English language learners, below or above level,” she said. “In August, we assess students and we continue to assess them throughout the year. They are expected to be on or above level by the end of the year. The literacy symposium brought in national names to give us practical ideas.”

Gage described one way to differentiate learning in a classroom: “If I have 20 kids, I might have 20 different learning levels, but there are practical ways to teach about the life cycle of an insect. One child may be writing a complete story about the subject, while another is sounding out words. They all think they’re doing the same thing because they are learning about the insect.”

Teachers also use flexible grouping when they have learners on different levels, Gage explained. Flexible grouping is used in the classroom to allow teachers to teach a small group of students at a similar level to help them move to a higher level. The teacher changes these groups often as the children’s interest levels and skills dictate. 

“In our kindergarten classrooms, the children are grouped in mixed ability levels,” Gage said. “This allows the gifted student to shine by explaining a problem to another student. The children on or below level help others in this cooperative learning situation. The English language learner may be seated by other English language learners or by students who speak English as a first language. In this arrangement, the English language learner may ask another child to interpret, and the English language learner is able to grasp the meaning and then has the opportunity to communicate with all children at the table without the risk of being 'put on the spot.’”

All students benefit from working cooperatively each day, she said. They are all important in the group, which in turn helps them as independent learners.

The teachers appreciated having a conference with highly respected leaders in literacy so close to home, Gage also said, making it convenient and cost-efficient.