The Literacy Intervention
EEH interventions in literacy and the language arts are empowering classroom teachers, school administrators and other education professionals working in targeted schools, such as Resource Teachers, with the requisite strategies and resources to increase student performance.
To achieve this empowerment, the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) is improving pedagogical capacity, both theoretical and practical, using a variety of approaches:
- Production of teaching guides and related practical materials
- Online and classroom training of Resource and Literacy Specialists in the use of educational technology (ICT) to support teacher professional development and educational practice
- On-site support through routine observational visits, demonstrations and workshops
- Investigation and monitoring of classroom-related factors that may impede progress, especially with reference to the literacy of boys
- Involvement of local and international short-term specialists in program implementation
The following are just some activities being undertaken by the EEH in support of literacy:
Workshops
Based on a survey of the instructional needs of teachers and students conducted in the 71 project schools at the beginning of the EEH project, data revealed that support was required in the areas of reading fluency, writing and comprehension. In response to these needs, trainings were organized to introduce Resource Teachers and teachers from project schools to strategies that increase performance in the areas mentioned. Workshops are held continuously to introduce new ideas and practices and to reinforce previously learned approaches.
In turn, Resource Teachers are then expected to train classroom teachers from Grades 1-4 and to monitor the project’s literacy activities within their schools. Workshops have also provided opportunities for learning about adult education. To learn more about the role of resource teachers in EEH schools, click the link “Andragogy.”
Evaluation Strategies
Data-Driven Decision Making
Expanding Educational Horizons has introduced team data-driven decision making as an innovative approach for more effective teaching. Analysis of school data by teachers, administrators and community stakeholders leads to discussions on performance as well as remedies and enrichment practices. The following illustrate EEH activities in the use of data:
- National scores constitute a principal basis for identifying areas requiring improvement. Coupling national data with classroom-based data collected by teachers through continuous assessment of student work is conducted to identify learning challenges and institute improvement measures
- Preparing specialists and associates to help principals and teachers conduct data-driven decisions in the interest of classroom improvement
- Emphasizing the practice of continuous assessment and how to help students improve their work through feedback, rather than emphasizing feedback for grading
- Using information derived from student performance on classroom inventories for the development of Individual Education Plans (IEPs)
- Providing opportunities for teacher collaboration, as they decide upon grade level interventions and work together in implementing new practices
Portfolio Evaluation
The EEH is empowering teachers and students to monitor numeracy and literacy learning and achievement through the use of portfolios. Portfolio assessment is a way to examine and measure progress by documenting the process of learning as it occurs. Portfolios extend beyond scores and grades to include substantive examples of what students are doing and experiencing. To get ideas about how to organize a portfolio, click the link “portfolios.”
Language Education Policy
The EEH collaborates with the MOEY to help teachers understand how project goals align with the Language Education Policy. For more information, click on Language Policy.
Strategies to Improve Reading
Fluency in reading is a desired goal of classroom literacy instruction. How do you recognize a fluent reader? What are some strategies to promote fluency in reading? Answers to these questions can be found by clicking “What is fluency? How important is fluency?”
Strategies to Improve Writing
Research shows that reading and writing are reciprocal. To this end, when students read, they should also be encouraged to write, and vice versa. Writing is considered a developmental process and, as such, competence is achieved over time. Click the following link “Writing” to get ideas about the writing process, the six traits of writing and how to develop children’s writing skills.
The Readers’ Theatre
The Readers’ Theatre promotes a strategy for enhancing writing and reading fluency. To obtain information about this strategy that engages students in a non-threatening environment go to the link “Readers’ Theatre.”
Comprehension Strategies
Comprehension teaching has always been an important concern of teachers of reading. Students most often are required to answer questions but they have not been taught how to search for answers. The Question-Answer Relationship or QAR approach developed by Taffy Raphael (1986) is a strategy that teaches learners how to locate answers for any given text. Often students expect that every question’s answer is found in the text and that they are just not looking hard enough. This can create frustration as answers are not always “under their noses.”
For more information about the QAR, go to “Teaching Comprehension.” This link also provides information about the comprehension processes and examples of passages to which the QAR can be applied.
Literacy Mandate
To get an idea of how participants viewed their roles as teachers of literacy a session, My Literacy Mandate, was conducted. A scenario and a set of related questions guided the presentation. Click the link to view the scenario and the questions posed. Participants were required to place their Literacy Mandates in their portfolios. They are also required to revisit their mandates during the year to see whether their objectives were being met, whether they needed to be altered and why.
