Episode 3: What is a Literacy Specialist?
I’m Elizabeth Morphis your host and today I’m addressing the difference between a literacy specialist and a reading specialist. I also want to provide context for how the job came to be in schools.
I’m also interviewing Kasey, a literacy specialist and one of my former students about her job and what it entails.
Two questions I get often are:
● What is the difference between a reading specialist and a literacy specialist?
● What does a literacy specialist do?
In theory there isn’t much difference between the two. The term has shifted from reading to literacy recently. Hear how specialists came about. They’ve been in schools since the 1930’s, and the role they play in schools has changed over time.
The shift from reading to literacy is because schools have recognized that reading is not the only area of focus. Literacy specialists address all areas of language arts. Specialists are working to support students with reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and even visual representation.
Different school districts may choose to use different terms, but it’s essentially the same role.
Kasey is a reading specialist working with K-2 kids who are ages 5-8. She explains that her job is to be the point person for anything reading based and to provide additional support for children struggling with reading skills.
You’ll find Kasey in the classroom pushing into the classroom and working with a teacher as well as outside the classroom working with small groups of children using her own lessons and planning instruction to support the needs of the students.
She explains the different programs that are used both in-and-outside the classroom to help students where they are. Assessments are done by Kasey every other week and school-wide three times a year.
Writing skills are also reinforced and vary depending on the program being taught.
Sometimes kids are writing the words they are learning in a sentence or may be applying the rule or concept that they have just learned.
Kasey also explains how she works with parents. She’s accessible and wants them to know how their child is progressing with reading and writing. Elizabeth and Kasey also discuss tutoring and support outside of school and what parents may want to do to help support their child’s progress.
Kasey has a passion for teaching, and she shares how nice it is to be able to work with children from kindergarten through 2nd grade. She’s helping a new generation of readers and writers master important skills and most importantly learn to love reading and writing!
I hope this has helped you better understand the role of a reading or literacy specialist, and answered a few of your questions about what type of support they provide and how they add to the school.
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Episode 2: Getting to Know Your Students and Host Elizabeth Morphis
As teachers, it is important to learn about the students in your classroom and for the students to learn a little about you. This helps build trusting relationships, which are essential for students to learn and for teachers to teach effectively. This episode does just that!
I introduce myself so that you learn about me, my current position as a professor, and my teaching experiences. In the Spotlight Segment, I share a few activities that I use to learn about my students and who they are as individuals.
Here’s what I recommend to develop trust, inclusion, and motivation:
1. Spend some time getting to know the students before and as part of the lessons.
2. Let the students get to know you as well. It’s hard for students to learn from teachers they don’t trust.
3. Help students make connections between the curriculum and the students’ interests.
I’ve always loved teaching and in today’s episode you’ll hear my first experiences in the classroom and how I developed my expertise around literacy. I have had some unique teaching opportunities as well. I spent a year on the National Broadway tour of Annie. It was my job to make sure the children in the cast kept up with their class work between performances.
Bringing the curriculum to life is important to me and I’m sharing some of the ways I tried to do that for y students.
While working with Sesame Workshop I created curriculum for students in Japan to learn English with the Sesame content. As part of the project, I went to Japan, and had the opportunity to work with teachers there and I realized how much I enjoyed working with other teachers.
Teaching new teachers at the college level is rewarding. It’s wonderful to work with others who have a passion for teaching.
In the Spotlight I’m sharing some of my favorite activities to do with students to get to know them better.
· Me bag exercise.
· My Map Book by Sarah Fanelli
· The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald
· Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers
These are great activities for parents, and I’ve enjoyed doing them with my girls who are enthusiastic readers.
If you’re a teacher or a parent looking to help children enjoy reading, any of these ideas are a good place to start. Learning to love reading can happen in a variety of ways and I’ll share more ideas on the next episode.
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Episode 1: Literacy — More than Reading and Writing
Welcome to the first episode of the Literacy Teacher's Life Podcast! Today's episode introduces the topic of literacy and expands on the common definition of literacy as simple "reading and writing."
Host Elizabeth Morphis Brings her experience as both a teacher and amo to two elementary school-age daughters.
Today's Topic on the Literacy List
What is Literacy and what does it mean? The most common answer most of us hear is "literacy is reading and writing," and that's correct. But it's not all. The definition also includes the meaning tht is made, the context, and the environment.
Elizabeth shares examples from her classroom to explain that often kids may read well but struggle to explain what they’ve read. Or they may understand but be unable to write about what they’ve read.
Literacy is a way of making meaning in a specific environment. What does that mean? That’s the focus of literacy education today. Skills vary depending on the specific work students engage in.
Absolutely, literacy refers to reading and writing. But it’s also the meaning that we take from a text or the meaning we make, and the environment.
For parents at home, if your child is frustrated when reading alone, try reading with them. You can slowly lead up to having them read independently.
Spotlight on Children's Books
* The Three Pigs by David Wiesner – this is one Elizabeth's favorites. The pigs leave their story and fly into other stories. The pigs are reading their world!
*Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora – This book is a great example of how a child relates to the content.
*The Idea Jar by Adam Lehrhaupt – This shows how ideas for writing can come from anywhere and it encourages possibilities.
*This is a good story by Adam Lehrhaupt – This book explains the elements of the story including what happens when mistakes happen.
* You are a Reader/You are a Writer by April Jones Prince – This book shows all the content we read like signs, cereal boxes and more. It’s a great reminder that we read and write in all kinds of ways in our everyday lives.
Today’s Positive Note
This week's episode shares two resources that can be used to encourage kids to talk about books they read. It also explains comprehension wands and cubes with prompts to help extend the reading into a conversation.
You can find more resources at https://www.theliteracyteacherslife.com/
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Welcome to The Literacy Teacher’s Life Podcast!
This podcast is for teachers and parents who are dedicated to helping young readers and writers thrive. Children are naturally curious and it’s our role as parents and teachers to provide them with support so they learn to love reading and writing. Host, teacher, and mom Elizabeth Morphis is here to help you support your kids at home or in the classroom.