The National Council of La Raza

Summer 2006 Leadership Institute for Latino Literacy (LILL)

 

 

Developed and Presented by:

 The George Washington University

Center for Equity and Excellence in Education

 

July 31- August 4, 2006

 

The focus of this Institute is developing the academic literacy and achievement of students learning English as another language through integrated practices across the disciplines.

 

Institute Objectives

 

The Summer 2006 Leadership Institute will help participating teachers to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to:

 

Identify students’ academic, language, and literacy learning needs;

 

Provide instruction that helps students’ develop:

 

(a) Academic background and vocabulary knowledge,

(b) Oral academic language skills,

(c) Strategies for comprehending informational text in the content areas,

(d) Knowledge of the features of academic texts,

(e) Strategies for using text features to aid in comprehension;

 

Use a common framework for integrated academic, language, and literacy instruction; and

 

Collaborate to support their continuing professional development in language and literacy teaching throughout the school year.

 

 

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

 

Teachers who participate in the Institute will be better able to address students’ needs related to academic language and literacy, reflect on their teaching, and collaborate to support ongoing professional development.

 

 

Expected Products

 

(1) Plan for continued professional development

(2) Lessons that can be used/adapted for the first week of school


 

AGENDA

 

 

Monday, July 31

 

6:30 – 8:00 PM

LILL Participant Welcome Reception at The George Washington University Faculty Club

Hosted by the National Council of La Raza

 

 

Tuesday, August 1

 

8:30 – 9:00 AM

 

Continental Breakfast

 

9:00 – 9:30

Welcome/Warm-up and Overview of Institute Goals, Syllabus, and Materials

 

P.  DiCerbo

9:30 – 10:30

I. Considering Learners and Literacy in the Classroom

 

This session will illustrate how differences in students’ educational backgrounds, academic language and literacy skills, and interests contribute to their “readiness” to learn grade-level content.

 

P.  DiCerbo

10:30 – 10:45

Break

 

 

10:45 – 12:00

II. Finding Out About Your Students Through Assessment

 

This session will describe approaches to identifying and assessing students’ backgrounds, language/literacy skills, and interests.  Opportunities will be provided to use/adapt tools and strategies for assessment purposes.

 

L. Willner

12:00 – 1:00 PM

LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

 

A list of nearby restaurants and a map to help you find them will be provided.

 

 

1:00 – 2:30

III. Bridging Between What You Know about Your Students and How You Plan for Their Instruction

 

This session will demonstrate tools and techniques to build on student interests and address their literacy needs.

 

J. Brown

2:30 – 2:45

Break with Snack

 

 

2:45 – 3:50

IV. Building Students’ Background Knowledge

 

This session will present instructional strategies for building students content-area background knowledge and knowledge of text genres, and provide an introduction to text structures. 

 

E. Greer

3:50 – 4:00

V. Reflection Prompt

P.  DiCerbo

 

4:00 – 4:30

VI. Building Community and Commitment

 

In this session, participants will work within and across school teams to learn strategies to support their continued professional development throughout the school year.

E. Powers


Wednesday, August 2

 

8:30 – 9:00 AM

Continental Breakfast

 

 

9:00 – 10:30

VII. Developing Students’ Academic Vocabulary

 

This session will provide participants with opportunities to learn about the characteristics of academic language and academic vocabulary; practice identifying specialized and non-specialized academic vocabulary used in different content areas; analyze texts similar to those used in participant classrooms to determine the non-specialized and specialized academic vocabulary critical to text comprehension will be provided; and learn instructional strategies for teaching academic vocabulary.

 

K.  D’Avolio

10:30 – 10:45

Break

 

 

10:45 – 12:20

VIII. Using Classroom Talk to Develop Students’ Academic Language

 

This session will feature instructional strategies to expand and develop students’ oral academic language skills. Model explicit strategy instruction. An introduction to explicit strategy instruction will also be provided.

 

K.  Anstrom

12:20 – 12:30

IX. Reflection Prompt

P.  DiCerbo

 

12:30

Early Release for Sightseeing

 

Information about the places of interest in the DC metro area will be provided by the National Council of La Raza.

 

 


Thursday, August 3

 

8:30 – 9:00 AM

Continental Breakfast

 

 

9:00 – 10:30

X. Teaching Features of Informational Text (Part I)

 

In Part I of this session, participants will learn: different features of informational texts and how these features influence reading comprehension; how to analyze informational texts to determine organizational patterns and presentation formats; and different types of graphic organizers for teaching informational text structures.

 

 

 

P.  DiCerbo

K.  Anstrom

C.  Parker

K.  D’Avolio

J. Brown

 

10:30 – 10:45

Break

 

 

10:45 – 12:00

Teaching Features of Informational Text (Part II)

 

In Part II of this session, participants will identify organizational patterns in informational texts, decide on the best graphic organizers to teach common organizational patterns, develop lessons for teaching informational text structures, and practice using a common instructional framework  to organize their lessons.

 

 

C.  Parker

K.  D’Avolio

J. Brown

12:001:00 PM

LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

 

 

1:00 – 2:30

XI. Developing Reading Comprehension Skills with Reciprocal Teaching

 

This session will show participants how to use Reciprocal Teaching to teach students four important strategies (prediction, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing) useful for comprehending informational text.

 

 

E. Greer

2:30 – 2:45

Break with snack

 

 

2:45 – 4:20

XII. Building Community and Commitment &

Planning for First Week of School

 

In this session, participants will work within and across school teams to learn strategies to support their continued professional development throughout the school year, and plan for the first week of school.

 

E. Powers

E. Greer

J. Brown

K.  Anstrom

P.  DiCerbo

 

4:20 – 4:30

XIII. Reflection prompt

P.  DiCerbo

 

Friday, August 4

 

8:30 – 9:00 AM

Continental Breakfast

 

 

9:00 – 11:15

XIV.. Planning for First Week of School

 

In this session, participants will continue to work within school teams to plan for the first week of school.

 

E. Powers

E. Greer

P.  DiCerbo

 

11:15 – 11:30

Break

 

 

11:30 – 12:30

XV. Institute Wrap-Up

 

In this final session, participants will discuss lessons learned and share reflections, suggest topics for follow-up sessions, and provide an evaluation of the Institute.

 

E. Powers

E. Greer

L. Willner

P.  DiCerbo