Getting the Most out of Literacy Training

Driven to be the best reading teachers they can be, a group of educators in Lammersville Unified came together to share ideas and build on summer training focused on evidence-based instruction.

They had all attended the same district Science of Reading Academy in July, but they came back in for a follow-up training offered by the district in mid-September to set the table for further collaboration and make sure the teachers had everything they needed for their students.

“We want to give teachers resources and the time to change practices in the classroom,” said Teresa Bodenmiller, coordinator of curriculum instruction and programs.

Even before the September training officially started, the training room was filled with conversations as  teachers excitedly shared what they had been doing in their classrooms so far this school year.

Alicia Uchiyama, a teacher at Evelyn Costa Elementary School, had added a new morning routine for her kindergartners. Every morning, they rhyme words, practice letter sounds, clap out syllables, and count out words and sentences. There’s a focus on phonemic awareness, and they have a lot of fun while learning, she said.

She had been looking forward to hearing what her colleagues had been doing since the summer academy. “It’s great because it is a collaboration of different ideas.”

The district is active in the San Joaquin County Early Literacy Community of Practice, where districts come together at the SJCOE to learn and exchange ideas, including how to implement more science of reading and structured literacy in classrooms.

Read more about the Science of Reading Academy in the latest issue of the SJCOE Outlook