Discover the transformative strategies that Dr. Martha Butler, a seasoned literacy coach, is using to revolutionize early literacy development in our schools, especially post-pandemic. This episode is a treasure trove for educators and parents alike, as Dr. Butler opens up about the all-encompassing approach her school takes to ensure foundational skills are not only targeted in small groups but also woven seamlessly into whole-group learning and RTI sessions. This method promises to maintain a sense of grade-level appropriateness while building student confidence and literacy capabilities.
Join us, Danielle and Sari, as we share our enlightening conversation with Dr. Butler and explore the significance of creating a supportive, 'all hands on deck' learning environment. Whether you're seeking actionable techniques to enhance your literacy coaching or simply want to gain deeper insights into the world of early literacy, this episode is sure to leave you with valuable knowledge and inspiration to support the growth and learning of young readers.
Read Dr. Butler's Blog: CurriculumAssociates.com/blog/literacy-skills
Follow us on Twitter: @CurriculumAssoc
Follow us on Instagram: @MyiReady
Have feedback, questions, or want to be a guest? Email ExtraordinaryEducators@cainc.com to connect with us!
Discover the transformative strategies that Dr. Martha Butler, a seasoned literacy coach, is using to revolutionize early literacy development in our schools, especially post-pandemic. This episode is a treasure trove for educators and parents alike, as Dr. Butler opens up about the all-encompassing approach her school takes to ensure foundational skills are not only targeted in small groups but also woven seamlessly into whole-group learning and RTI sessions. This method promises to maintain a sense of grade-level appropriateness while building student confidence and literacy capabilities.
Join us, Danielle and Sari, as we share our enlightening conversation with Dr. Butler and explore the significance of creating a supportive, 'all hands on deck' learning environment. Whether you're seeking actionable techniques to enhance your literacy coaching or simply want to gain deeper insights into the world of early literacy, this episode is sure to leave you with valuable knowledge and inspiration to support the growth and learning of young readers.
Read Dr. Butler's Blog: CurriculumAssociates.com/blog/literacy-skills
Follow us on Twitter: @CurriculumAssoc
Follow us on Instagram: @MyiReady
Have feedback, questions, or want to be a guest? Email ExtraordinaryEducators@cainc.com to connect with us!
Curriculum Associates presents the Extraordinary Educators podcast with hosts Danielle Sullivan and Sarah Loveris. Here tips, best practices and successes to improve your teaching and leadership and drive student growth and learning. We're here for you.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, welcome to the Extraordinary Educator podcast. I'm Danielle and.
Speaker 1:I'm Sarah. This week we are so excited to share our conversation with Dr Martha Butler, who is the literacy coach at a school in Delaware.
Speaker 2:And y'all. It is so important to talk about early literacy and Dr Butler has a lot of wonderful ideas to share and we're going to link some resources in the show notes for you to learn more but it isn't always an important time to start thinking about literacy. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and she gives some really great tips and practical advice towards the end too, as well as kind of explaining the theory and her thinking behind her approach at her school. So here's our conversation with Dr Butler. Welcome, dr Butler, we are so excited to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you. I'm really excited about being here. A little nervous too.
Speaker 2:Oh, we promise it'll be painless and easy, and we're just excited to talk to you about what are you currently working on and what are you most passionate about in your day to day work?
Speaker 3:So the one thing I'm working on is, you know, looking at early literacy development and really diving into its impact, its long-term impact, in my current, my day to day work. I'm in a three to five elementary grade, three to five elementary school, and I'm the literacy coach, so I work more with the teachers and with a small group of students throughout the year. But I just see, since the pandemic, how really, as a whole school, focusing on building foundational skills, has impacted our students in terms of their confidence and just their growth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really, really important and actually we'll link this in the show notes. Our company, crick and the Associates, just came out with research on how the pandemic has affected the younger learners in literacy. So, thinking about that need, what are some best practices that you're doing currently, or some things that you're thinking about to help reach those students? Because, if you think about it, they were really young during the pandemic and now they're just entering school and they're it's all wackadoodle that's a technical term, by the way. So tell us a little bit about the ways you're approaching this. Really, really important to solve problem.
Speaker 3:Well, you may be familiar with the fact that when students fall behind in literacy or even in math, they get pulled for small group construction right. Well, we've approached it from a whole school perspective. So not only are they getting those skills in small group, but they're also getting those same skills and practices in whole group and in RTI. So you got RTI, you got small group in, you have whole group, all hitting the same foundational skills regardless of their grade. But it's being presented to them in a way where it doesn't feel like they're back in kindergarten, so it's being presented to them as if they are fourth, third, fourth and fifth graders. Reading is also incorporated into those foundational skills.
Speaker 3:When I'm talking about foundations, I'm talking about phonics, making sure they know the sounds, the letters, how words are put together. They're starting right from the bottom and we've seen so much growth in our students and one of the and it's really it's all hands on deck approach. So even though I don't have students personally like I don't teach in front of students every day I have a group of students I work with and as the year goes on and we get to know the students, we see that some kids may, some students may need additional support, then they'll call me or anyone on my team to pull out additional students to help them. So we're starting from scratch, regardless of their grade, being conscious that the students we have one fell so far behind and they may not have the support at home. So we try to do as much as we can in school.
Speaker 1:That's so great, and thanks for sharing the all hands on deck approach. I think that's so powerful, right? Everyone in your school community feels as though it's their students and their responsibility, and so, just taking that a bit further, you mentioned previously to us before the recording, that you're really passionate about sort of educating people on the impact that these early literacy gaps can have on the community, not just within the classroom. So I'd love just to hear more about that and kind of what you've found in your work.
Speaker 3:Well, one of the things and I'm just at the beyond, I have to be transparent, I'm just beginning this work but one of the things I'm seeing because a lot of our students are struggling at home financially, maybe, food and securities, those types of things, all kinds of trauma happening in their lives. But what we see when they come into school is that their confidence is building right. And it's not a perfect system, but we're trying to reach the student not only in school but also at home. So when we are doing our events, let's say, are a family engagement night, we try to make sure that we incorporate opportunities for parents to experience what our students are learning in the classroom, not the whole night, but just a little snippet to kind of say look, this is what we're trying to help our students do. But the teachers do it individually throughout the year. But we want our parents to be invested as well, which is a challenge when they're struggling day to day to make sure they're putting food on a table and a roof over their kid's head. So, making sure the parents are aware of the activities we're doing, trying to make sure that they have the internet and that they can access the online resources that we use, because each student has a device, so it's a one-on-one. Each student has a device, but not every family has internet, so we have to make sure they have their internet.
Speaker 3:But to go back to the original question is how we're seeing this. We're seeing our students. So, with our fifth graders, for example, I'm seeing a lot more seeing more students feeling that they get to choose where they get to go to high school. They want to go to the schools where they teach. They may focus on science or math, not realizing that they have to pass a particular test to get in, but they have this sense of hope that they can do more. And that's what we want them to do, even if their path is a little different and they may not realize it. But they feel confident and we try to celebrate them. So every time they pass a test or reach a benchmark or a particular goal, we celebrate them.
Speaker 2:That is so important. So much of what you said is really important, including understanding where kids are, understanding where they're coming from, giving a lot of empathy and compassion and, of course, celebrating. That is so essential. So a lot of educators who are listening who may be thinking that they want to have an all hands on DAC approach. What are some tactical, practical tips for educators thinking about this approach? I know you're still new to this and you're still working out the kinks yourself, but maybe something that you wish you knew maybe a month or two ago that might help somebody else.
Speaker 3:Well, I think one of the things. So when we say all hands on, that we're talking down to the janitors in some cases. So even though they're not trained to teach phonics or small group instruction, we give them a role. So when you create, when teachers create groups, they may only be able to see a group once or twice during the week. With this approach, let's say our family and community outreach person, they'll come in, they'll take, they'll monitor the group of students that are maybe on a great level. So that gives the teacher an opportunity to meet with a small group that she wouldn't normally, he or she wouldn't normally be able to meet with more than once or twice a week.
Speaker 3:So this teacher then now has depending on your timeframe it can be 45 minutes one hour, it can be as little as 30 minutes Now this teacher has an opportunity to meet with that group that's kind of in the middle. They're not quite on great level, but they're not too great. They're only one grade level behind. So they don't, they don't slip through the cracks. So the teacher then has this time now to meet with students that may oftentimes only be seen once a week. So let's call them non-certified teachers are then assigned to a teacher, assigned to a classroom, and they help monitor a group of students, While the teacher now is trained to meet with the students, to teach them phonics or whatever the skill may be, comprehension, whatever they need, and that happens every day, Just like. It's almost similar to RTI, except it's not just the tier three kids.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for sharing that, dr Butler, and for all of your advice and insights and expertise. I'm sure the folks listening really appreciated it. Unfortunately, that is all the time we have for today, but thank you again for your time and for talking to us. Get inspired by following us on social media and please tag us in your posts on Twitter, at curriculumasoche, and on Instagram, at myirety. If you have feedback about the podcast, a topic of interest or want to be a guest, email extraordinaryeducatorsatcainccom. Subscribe where you listen to podcasts and if you'd like to help more educators like you join the conversation, please leave a review.
Speaker 4:And remember, be you be true, be extraordinary. The Extraordinary Educators podcast is produced by Curriculum Associates. Editing by Whiteboard Geeks, social media by Atstie Hannan, guest booking by Sarri Laveris, production by Hailey Browning. This podcast is copyright, material and intellectual property of Curriculum Associates.