Davida Fox Melanson Endowment Funding 2009-2010
Literacy for All Conference ,sponsored by Lesley University’s Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative
The Literacy Specialist and six classroom teachers (grades K-5) will attend an intensive two-day conference, Literacy for All, in Providence, Rhode Island, featuring nationally recognized instructional leaders in literacy. Check the link above for more information. The attendees’ goals are to learn current best practices in the teaching of reading to inform our current English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum review in reading, to improve students’ reading skills, and to share new learning with all the teachers. There will be in-depth Reading Recovery sessions, a new Technology Strand with sessions on integrating technology with literacy learning and over 100 workshops with literacy experts.
School Mental Health: Treating Students K-12, sponsored by Harvard Medical School Department of Continuing Education
The principals and school psychologists will attend a two-day program whose objective is to assist clinicians and school personnel in optimizing the academic performance and social well being of children and adolescents at school. As a result of attending this program, participants will be able to identify strategies to promote learning, resiliency, and social and emotional growth, as well as to support collaboration among students, administrators, mental health professionals, and family members. Participants will be able to describe ways to assess and treat learning differences, autism, depression, trauma, bullying, violence, substance abuse, and other risk-taking and/or disruptive behaviors commonly found in schools. This program is in keeping with the district goal of developing and improving student leadership along with efforts towards anti-bullying. It also addresses the need to foster greater balance between academic and psychological success.
Davida Fox Melanson Endowment Funding 2009-2010
Choral Teaching: Best Practices and Collaborations – Megan Harlow
Megan Harlow requested paid time off to observe best practices of choral music teaching and to implement effective techniques in our school choral ensembles. By observing the CCHS choirs, she planned to become acquainted with the requirements and expectations at the high school level for students in choral ensembles so that the Carlisle middle school students would be better prepared to participate in vocal ensembles at CCHS. Another goal was to strengthen relationships between the Carlisle School choral program and other strong choral programs in the state, resulting in shared performances. Ms. Harlow’s commitment resulted in a joint choral concert with the Higgins Middle School, after an afternoon of shared rehearsals.
Workshop - The Continuum of Literacy Learning: A Guide to Teaching
A group of elementary grade teachers, Sue La Porte (the learning specialist), and Patrice Hurley, their principal, received funding to attend a workshop on how to use the Continuum of Literacy Learning: A Guide to Teaching. This is a program which guides teachers in planning and assessing the teaching of reading and writing. The teachers’ goal was to be better able to plan and assess their teaching of reading and writing and also be able to understand where students lie on the continuum. This knowledge will help them to differentiate their teaching to fit the needs of their students.
Workshop – The Reading Brain: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
(Presented by Maryanne Wolfe, EdD, Director, Center for Reading and Language Research and Professor of Child Development, Tufts University, and Dr. John D.E. Gabrieli, Professor in Health Sciences and Technology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology)
A group of elementary grade teachers attended a workshop in which they learned about the latest brain-based research regarding reading and its implications for reading acquisition and for reading instruction and intervention. With an increased understanding of how humans acquire reading skills, the teachers will more effectively teach reading to children, catch warning signs that indicate a difficulty and implement supportive and remedial instruction when needed. After participating in this workshop, teachers will share their new learning with their colleagues and apply it to their teaching.
Implementing a Response to Intervention (RTI) Model
The School’s Response to Intervention Research Group (Shawna Horgan, Bethany Boglarski, Jen Rowland, Susan LaPorte and Amy Sutherland) attended a seminar, “Implementing a Response to Intervention (RTI) Model.” RTI is a means of providing early intervention to all children at risk for school failure. Its purpose is to reduce the number of learners referred to learning disabilities or special education programs by providing intensive and effective instruction before children fail. The Researhc Group’s goal is to continue to meet on a regular basis to use the knowledge gained from the seminar combined with their own research in order to make recommendations to the administration on how to best implement a RTI model.
Intensive Spanish and Mexican Studies program – Nicole Baker
Nicole Baker has been the French teacher at the school for over 20 years. When Spanish was introduced in grades K-5, Mademoiselle Baker began teaching Spanish in the 3rd and 4th grades. As the Spanish program expands each year, the students’ knowledge of the language evolves so 3rd graders have studied it for three years already. The 4th grade curriculum also includes a component on the geography, art and music of Mexico so it seemed timely for Ms. Baker to immerse herself during the summer of 2009 in an Intensive Spanish and Mexican Studies program sponsored by the University of Guadalajara while living with a local Mexican family at Puerto Vallarta while speaking the language on a daily basis.
