The Extraordinary Educators Podcast

Transforming Literacy Instruction with Angie Gates

• Sari Laberis • Season 5 • Episode 51

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Unlock the secrets to effective literacy instruction with Angie Gates, our inspiring guest and dedicated Field Support Manager for Literacy Implementations with Curriculum Associates. Angie brings a treasure trove of knowledge about the science of reading and shares her practical wisdom on overcoming the challenges that educators face when adopting new instructional methods. You'll discover strategies to engage students with grade-level texts, navigate the balance between support and independence, and the critical importance of vocabulary development and knowledge building in transforming reading experiences.

Prepare to be inspired as Angie delves into the evolving landscape of literacy education, emphasizing the need for high expectations and belief in students' potential. Her passion for vocabulary and student empowerment shines through, providing actionable advice that educators can implement in their classrooms. Tune in for an episode packed with insights and strategies to elevate both teaching and student outcomes.

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Sari Laberis:

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Extraordinary Educators podcast. It's Sari, and today I am thrilled to share my conversation with Angie Gates. Angie is a key member of our Educator Success Team and serves as a field support manager for literacy implementations across the country. In this episode, angie shares her insights on the involving landscape of literacy education, particularly focused on the science of reading. We dive into challenges teachers face with new instructional methods and curriculum and also talk about effective strategies to support you during this transition. Angie also talks about the importance of getting students engaged with grade-level text and that really hard balance that we all have to strike between providing support and encouraging independent reading. Plus, we'll hear about her passion for vocab development and knowledge building and how these elements can transform reading experiences for you and your students. Let's get started. Here is my conversation with Angie. Welcome, angie. It is so great to have you here on the podcast. Thank you, sari. It's nice to be here. You mind just introducing yourself to our listeners, please, mary.

Angie Gates:

It's nice to be here. You mind just introducing yourself to our listeners, please? Yes, my name is Angie Gates and I am a member of our Educator Success Team and my role is a field support manager for literacy implementation and I support our field teams across the country nationally with our ELA literacy implementations that sounds wonderful and very exciting, especially with all of the new research that's coming out about literacy instruction.

Sari Laberis:

So what's on your mind lately as it pertains to implementations?

Angie Gates:

I think that there's a number of things on my mind, I think, with the science of reading. We have educators across the country who are at all stages of learning in that process and a lot of shifts are taking place instructionally and it's a big lift. It's difficult for teachers to learn, you know, a brand new way of teaching for many, as well as, in many cases, learning new curriculum at the same time. So I think in my mind I'm just thinking about, like the things that we see across the country where implementations have opportunities for learning and growing. In my mind I'm just thinking about, like the things that we see across the country where implementations have opportunities for learning and growing, and also thinking how can we support our educators in that learning while learning our curriculum too?

Sari Laberis:

Absolutely. Yeah, it's a lot at once and I think Angie wrote a great blog about some of these strategies and things you can do with your students that we will link in the show notes. But is there any sort of concept or strategy? You know that's kind of a bit narrowed down from the science of reading that you've been thinking a lot about.

Angie Gates:

One of the things that I'm pretty passionate about is students just having eyes on text, having opportunities to engage with grade level text, regardless of the reading ability they may bring to that text. And a lot of times I see tons of of educators who are working really hard to create scaffolds and opportunities for their students to access that text. But I also see that sometimes we over scaffold and we we provide almost too much support and it eliminates our students opportunities from actually having eyes on text. So I just heard this yesterday from a colleague and I love this analogy. If I am trying to teach my students how to shoot a free throw, if that's what I want them to do, I me shooting the basketball each time. If I'm doing it and they're just watching what are they, are they learning how to develop the skills necessary? So I have to really think about that and apply that to reading as an educator and think how can I peel away the supports and scaffolds that I provide and the modeling that I provide so that my students can own and take more of that on? And a big piece of that across the country is we have to believe that kids really can and we can't lower the bar. Instead, we are going to provide the scaffolds and then begin to remove the scaffolds. That's the part where I think educators are still trying to learn in some cases, like how do I pull back and let them take more on.

Angie Gates:

So I've been really focused on vocabulary. That's kind of been a passion of mine as well. And then building knowledge is just so big right now. I think when you take the combination of you know, making texts accessible to students, I think engagement's a big piece of that. I also think that when we're talking about building a set of texts or a text set, it really helps to scaffold comprehension. It's a scaffold in and of itself. That also is building knowledge and it's really growing and deepening vocabulary because students are interacting with that vocabulary in multiple texts that are coherently tied and connected to each other. And it's exciting to think about a model that really elevates what reading experiences can be. It reminds us of the why. Why do we read? We read to learn, we read to have our perspective enhanced and we read to understand other perspectives and we read, you know, it's all about thinking. Thinking is kind of at the core of why we read, and I feel like the blog reflects the you know tower of having text sets and for building knowledge purposes.

Sari Laberis:

You just said a lot of great stuff there, angie. Going back to something that you said a bit ago, I think the mindset is so important. If you don't believe your students can shoot that free throw, then they're never going to do it right. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. And so just shifting the mindset around all students can and will, you know, be exposed or learn grade level content and then just thinking about how can you provide the right supports to the right students, you know, whether that's using data or trying different strategies or having you know peers help each other out so that they can pick up the ball and do it themselves. You're not just going to give it to them on their first try and say, okay, here you go. Like they need to be taught the strategy, what to do with their arms and fingers and hands right, and then, and then thinking about the knowledge building, can you just define for our listeners, what do you mean by that?

Sari Laberis:

There's so many buzzwords and things out there. What? What do you mean by knowledge building and literacy

Angie Gates:

I think that the more knowledge that students have and there's a lot of research out there about this the more knowledge students have, it's going to increase engagement, it's going to increase comprehension and it's going to increase comprehension and it's going to increase building more vocabulary and more knowledge. It really is a cycle of giving the opportunity for students who may not have background knowledge by, you know, initially building that background knowledge, because then they can anchor new knowledge, new learning, interdisciplinary understandings, new vocabulary that becomes you know, it actually becomes vocabulary that can be retrieved in the future, stored in the long-term memory. The building knowledge is big and it plays a huge role in comprehension and a huge role in engagement. So it really, I think, fuels future reading growth and interest in reading, which the more you read, the more you know. I think that's really what it's leveraging, that was really helpful.

Sari Laberis:

Thank you, I totally agree, and it's so nice that at this point you know we are being explicit with our students. You are going to learn about X like you are reading to learn it's not this secret thing, right, and being able for them to then expand their schema and take what they learned and then apply it to something new you know, or be able to understand what a new word means because they have additional context, is just really powerful. So thank you so much, angie. Before we close out, are there any last words or advice you have for teachers as they're whether or not they're they're literacy teachers, maybe they're a middle school math teacher or an elementary teacher that teaches everything, just anything that they can take away from or advice that you have as they think about implementing this stuff in their classrooms?

Angie Gates:

Absolutely.

Angie Gates:

Having been a classroom teacher myself for almost 20 years, I honestly feel like any teacher, regardless of what curriculum they have in their classroom, can begin to build out the goals that they have around knowledge building for their students and even start to expand their own idea of building a text set.

Angie Gates:

So you know, thinking about target text like the goal of the text that they really want their students to read and build knowledge from that. There's a lot of ways to kind of think backwards from that and say what could I potentially read to them briefly to ignite some interest or some motivation or connect to their schema or their previous knowledge? Or some motivation or connect to their schema or their previous knowledge. What are some other texts or poems or video could I bring in that also will continue to build and enhance a stronger foundation that will enable them to really access that text that is more complex, that target text. So I think, just thinking about bringing in those pieces which you know many educators are so good at doing, just really thinking about how can I align it to providing a foundation for vocabulary, providing a foundation for background that not all children may have coming into that text, how can I really pave the way for them, so that the text is as accessible as it possibly can be for them.

Sari Laberis:

Well, thank you so much, Angie. That was very, very helpful and insightful, and we really appreciate you sharing your expertise with us Absolutely.

Angie Gates:

Thank you so much for having me.

Sari Laberis:

Get inspired by following us on social media and please tag us in your posts on X at Curriculum Asoche and on Instagram at my Eye, ready. If you have feedback about the podcast, a topic of interest or if you want to be a guest email extraordinaryeducators at cainccom. Please subscribe where you listen to podcasts and if you'd like to help more educators just like you, join the conversation and please leave a review. Remember, be you, be true, be extraordinary. The Extraordinary Educators podcast is produced by Curriculum Associates, editing by Shane Lowe, social media by Atsiti Hanan, guest booking by Sari Labaris and production by Haley Browning. This podcast is copyrighted materials and intellectual property of Curriculum Associates.