The Quill
|
Newport
News
Reading Council – Serving Gloucester, Mathews, Newport News, Poquoson, and York
|
February-March
2008
President’s
Message
Dear Colleagues,
We have been very busy
these last two months. On February 19,
we hosted our Spring Conference at Tabb Elementary in York County.
Ten sessions consisting of make-and-take workshops on phonological
awareness
activities and easy crafts to do with students were offered. Topics on vocabulary development,
comprehension strategies, and reader’s workshop were also explored. Thank you
presenters and participants for the great turnout.
I look forward to the fall workshop.
In
March, our affiliate, the Virginia State Reading Association (VSRA),
sponsored
the 41st Annual Conference in Richmond
on March 13-15. The efforts and
expertise of many of our members were recognized. Our very own
Administrator of
the Year, Susan Tilley, principal of Woodside High
School, was awarded
the Administrator of the Year honors by VSRA and our Teacher of the
Year, Kathryn
Morgan, was recognized at the annual banquet. In addition, Jonlyn Carr,
reading
specialist in York
County, and
Jennifer
Seltzer, first grade teacher in Poquoson, both presented at the
conference.
Our
work advocating literacy within the local and international community
will be
recognized at the International Reading Association’s 53rd
Annual
Convention in Atlanta,
Georgia. This is our 26th year for earning
Honor Council Status. This award will be presented to our council
during the
awards ceremony on May 4, 2008. We were also notified during the
Governing
Council Meeting of VSRA that our council has been awarded Merit
Council.
Service, partnership, and membership increase are a few of the
requirements for
these recognitions. Currently, we have 544 members. We appreciate those
of you
who have renewed your memberships or joined for the first time. Please encourage new teachers and student
teachers in your building to consider joining next year and taking
advantage of
all of the benefits of a NNRC and a VSRA membership.
We
were pleased to hold our third annual Young Writers Contest. Our winners and their families will be
honored at an awards ceremony which will be held on April 29, 2008, at
6:30 P.
M. at the Main Street Library in Newport News.
We
are accepting nominations for Reading Teacher of the Year,
Administrator of the
Year, Volunteer of the Year, and Paraprofessional of the Year. Please consider nominating a dedicated
volunteer or dedicated literacy professional for one of these awards. The deadline for submitting names is
Wednesday, April 30, 2008.
I look forward to
seeing all of you
on May 20th at our annual awards banquet.
Chynita Turner
NNRC President
2007-2008
NNRC Executive Board
Chynita
Turner - President
Ken
Schmidt – Treasurer, Membership Chair
Sherry
Edbauer- Vice President
Marilyn
Schempf, Legislative Chair
Kelly
Cartwright– Corresponding Secretary
Beth
Guthrie- Historian
Verdis
Knight – Recording Secretary, Parents and Reading Chair
http:// www.nnreadingcouncil.org
Advocacy
NNRC Donates Books to The Denbigh House
by Ken
Schmidt
The
Reading Council has donated a collection of books to The Denbigh House,
a
vocational rehabilitation facility for brain-injured adults. Survivors of brain injury spend time at The
Denbigh House in a program that helps them “achieve greater levels of
independence and productivity.” (Denbigh House brochure)
The
Denbigh House uses a clubhouse model.
Members select jobs to perform during the day that help them
develop
social and vocational skills. The jobs
include writing newsletters, planning social programs and fund raising
projects, and shopping for and cooking lunch.
The
Denbigh House staff recommended the books added to their library. They are intended to give survivors and their
families a better understanding of their injuries and how to live with
them.
The titles below are a sample of the books donated:
- Collaborative Brain Injury
Intervention: Positive Everyday Routines
- Brain on a String: And
Other Ways to Stay Organized When Your Mind Isn't...
- Brain, Heal Thyself: A
Caregiver's New Approach to Recovery from Stroke, Aneurysm, And
Traumatic Brain Injuries
- TBI Hell: A Traumatic
Brain Injury Really Sucks
- In
Search of Wings: A Journey Back from Traumatic Brain Injury
- Working After Brain
Injury: What Can I Do?
- Flying
Without Wings: Personal Reflections on Loss, Disability, and Healing
NNRC Supports International Literacy Efforts
By
Chynita Turner
Each
year the Board discusses opportunities to support literacy locally and
internationally. As an affiliate of VSRA
and the International Reading Association (IRA), we are charged with
the task
of not only providing our members with professional development and
networking
opportunities, but also advocating for persons in developing nations on
behalf
of the Council. Because we are chartered by The IRA and governed by
VSRA, we
support their goals to promote literacy worldwide.
International
literacy projects seek to bridge the gap between developing nations and
local
councils. This year we sponsored one membership ($61) to IRA in countries with developing economies and
contributed $250.00 to The LEADER Book Project.
The IRA membership allows access to information about literacy
and the reading
process to an educator in a developing nation.
Similarly, the donation to the LEADER Book Projects provides
children
with age/grade appropriate books in Eleuthera and instructional
materials,
reading books, and content area books in Belize. Both countries are
frequented by hurricanes and some past collections have been damaged or
destroyed. For example, Hurricane Floyd hit Governor’s Harbor,
Eleuthera in the
Bahamas
in September 1999 destroying books in
schools and libraries necessitating their replacement. Our donation
allows them
to rebuild their collections.
For more information on these outreach
projects, please email info@readingleaders.org
or logon to www.readingleaders.org. For more information about the International
Reading Association, log on to www.reading.org.
VSRA
Conference Highlight
Tim Rasinski at VSRA Conference
by Ken
Schmidt
Dr.
Timothy Rasinski of Kent
State University
made two presentations at this year’s conference. The
first, Constructivist Approaches to Word Study,
suggested an alternative
to the Making Words activities
familiar from Patricia Cunningham’s books.
He believes that writing the words in a grid is simpler for the
teacher.
There are no letters to count out and distribute; no letters for
students to
drop or play with. It has the added
benefit of letting the student see all of the permutations that have
been made
with the letters. The activity can be seen
in his article online: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/rasinski/.
Another
approach to word study has the student construct Word
Ladders. Students change letters until one word has been
transformed into another which is connected in meaning.
This example is from Rasinski’s website:
http://www.timrasinski.com/?page=presentations
Team to Work
Target Word
Letter
Changes
Required Clue
|
Team
|
|
Meat
|
Rearrange
letters
|
Food that
comes from animals.
|
|
Tame
|
Rearrange
letters
|
Not wild
|
|
Take
|
Chg 1
|
To get
possession of something. To grab.
|
|
Tale
|
Chg 1
|
A story.
|
|
Tall
|
Chg 1
|
Not short.
|
|
Toll
|
Chg 1
|
A fee paid
for a service or privilege. We had to pay a one-dollar toll to cross
the bridge.
|
|
Ton
|
-2, + 1
|
A weight,
2,000 pounds.
|
|
Torn
|
+ 1
|
To have
divided or separated something by pulling.
|
|
Worn
|
Chg 1
|
To have
caused something to deteriorate or go bad by using it or wearing it
out.
|
|
Work
|
Chg 1
|
What teams
must do together.
|
Rasinski
also
spoke at the second general session of the conference.
The web site above outlines his talk: From Phonics
to Fluency to Proficient Reading. A noted researcher on Fluency, Rasinski
is dismayed by the emphasis on speed in Fluency instruction. While speed is associated with fluency, he
does not believe that it is the crucial aspect of it.
He made an amusing comparison between speed
and fluency and his dog’s wagging his tail and being happy. Rasinksi could grab the dog’s tail and wag
it, but that wouldn’t make the dog happy.
Instead
of timing students and making them read at a breakneck speed to improve
the
time on fluency graphs, he recommends repeated readings of song lyrics
and
poetry and reader’s theater.
Rasinski
will present to a group of Newport
News teachers later this month.
VSRA Web site
Check out VSRA’s web
site at www.vsra.org.
The site features a members-only section. In
order to access this section, you will
need to have a user id and password. The
user name for our council is newport
and the password is weread5.
Legislative
Update
Congress has returned
to Washington
to work until
Memorial Day. They had until April 15th
to pass a non-binding Budget Resolution to set an overall spending
limit for
discretionary domestic spending which includes education.
To see the latest, check out the USDE web
site: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget09/summary/edlite-section2a.html#schoolimp
Volunteer of
the Year Nominations
If you have a very special volunteer working
in your school, please consider nominating this person for the NNRC
Volunteer
of the Year Award. Email the name of
your volunteer, the school(s) where this person volunteers, and a
paragraph
describing why this person should be our Volunteer of the Year to Chynita
Turner. Please include your name and phone number.
Reading
Teacher of the Year Nominations
The NNRC Reading Teacher of the Year Award
recognizes
a reading teacher whose commitment to literacy is exemplary and
unparalleled. The candidate must have
been a member of the NNRC for at least a year and must teach reading a
minimum
of one-third of each school day to students in grades K-12. If you know of such an outstanding
professional, please request a nomination packet from ChynitaTurner.
Completed forms
are due by April 30th. Our nominee will
be recognized at the 2009 VSRA conference in Arlington.
James D.
Mullins Administrator of the Year Award
This award was established in 1994 to
recognize administrators who show exceptional support of reading. The nominee is a strong advocate for reading
and teachers and children, has a vision for a school or school system,
makes
decisions based on a belief system, is creative in finding resources to
support
reading programs and is a strong supporter of reading and/or VSRA or
other
reading-oriented organizations or groups.
The candidate must have been a member of NNRC for at least one
year and
have been an administrator for at least three years. If you would like
to
nominate someone for this award, please email or send the following
information
to Chynita Turner at 3711
Big Bethel Road, Yorktown,
VA 23693:
Letter
of Recommendation (Include contact information).
The
candidate’s vitae. Include educational background, professional
experience, professional affiliations, and specific contributions to
reading.
Limit 250 words.
Textbook
Scholarship
Congratulations
to the following persons for receiving Spring textbook scholarships:
Miriam Neese, South Morrison Elementary, NNPS
Beth Kent, McIntosh Elementary, NNPS
Jeanette Dail, Carver Elementary, NNPS
Courtney Carter, CNU
Professional
Book Review
by Kelly B. Cartwright,
Ph.D.
Christopher Newport
University
Tools for Matching Readers to Texts: Research-Based Practices
by Heidi
Anne E. Mesmer
2007, Guilford Press
(Paperback
$25,
Hardcover $45)
We all know that
reading
instruction is not “one size fits all.” Walk into any elementary (or
even
secondary) classroom, and you will find readers at many different
levels. I recall spending time in a first
grade
classroom in which some children were at a pre-primer level, while
others were
reading at 5th and 6th grade levels!
Not only are our students reading at vastly
different levels, but they excel – and struggle – with different things. Some need to work on comprehension
strategies, others need to work on sight word vocabulary or on decoding
skills,
and still others need work on fluency. The
same grade-level texts certainly don’t fit each of these students. We may receive “below grade level,” “on grade
level,” and “above grade level” supplemental texts with our basal
series, but
those texts don’t always seem to fit the individual needs of the
readers in our
classrooms. Then, of course, are those “trusty” correlation charts that
help us
determine how various book leveling systems match up to grade levels. But, these charts are sometimes unwieldy
tools, and they still don’t help us match our individual readers’ needs
to
texts that will help them make the developmental shifts we are seeking. What is a teacher to do?
This is where text
expert, Dr.
Heidi Anne E. Mesmer, comes in. Her new
book, Tools for Matching Readers to
Texts: Research-Based Practices, provides wonderful background
knowledge
for understanding all the various text types that are available to meet
our
students’ individual needs. There are so
many text scaffolds available to teachers – like qualitative leveling
systems,
decodable texts, vocabulary-controlled texts – and these meet different
kinds
of student needs. In the first half of her book, Dr. Mesmer provides a
wonderful, accessible overview of each of these text types and how we
might use
these to address student needs in our classrooms. Additionally, she
explains
the various traditional and new “readability formulas” (the formulas
that we
can use to determine the difficulty levels of texts), and makes
suggestions for
how to use these as well. After Dr.
Mesmer clarifies all the many text tools available to us, she provides
exceptional practical suggestions for how to use these tools in our
schools,
elementary classrooms, and intermediate classrooms.
These practical chapters include vignettes of
real teachers, administrators, and schools, making clear how we might
better
use text tools for fostering literacy skill with individual students,
in small
groups, in whole classrooms, and even in whole buildings.
I highly recommend
this
text. I have not encountered a more
comprehensive treatment of the various kinds of texts available for
fostering
better literacy learning and instruction.
This book helped me understand text types in a whole new way,
moving my
understanding far beyond the correlation chart that we tend to use to
choose
leveled books for our students. Further,
Dr. Mesmer provides a wonderful balance between background knowledge
and
practical suggestions, making this a wonderful addition to the
bookshelves of
teachers, literacy coaches, reading specialists, building
administrators,
parents – anyone who has an interest in helping children achieve their
best
literacy outcomes.
Dr.
Mesmer will be the keynote speaker at the Newport News Reading
Council Spring Banquet on May 20. Please
join me in welcoming her, and come hear her speak about matching
readers to
texts!!
Young Authors Writing Contest
Winners
The Newport News Reading
Council sponsored our third annual
writing contest for PK-8 students. An
award will be given to the following recipients on April 29, 2008,
at Main Street
Library
in Newport News:
PK-2:
1st
place: Cathryn Harned, Magruder Elementary School,
YCSD
2nd
place:
Frances Garner, Hilton
Elementary School,
NNPS
3rd place:
Ajitha Balusubra Manian, Tabb Elementary
School, YCSD
3-5:
1st place:
Ashley Letendre, Seaford
Elementary School,
YCSD
2nd
place:
Shai-Quana Branch, Waller
Mill Elementary
School, YCSD
3rd place:
David Woolson, Waller
Mill Elementary
School, YCSD
6-8:
1st
place:
Ashley Macia, Tabb
Middle School, YCSD
2nd
place:
Ye-rin Kang, Gildersleeve Middle School, NNPS
3rd
place:
Karishma Jani, Hines Middle School, NNPS
UPCOMING EVENTS
Save the Date
Mark your calendar for these
events!
International
Reading Association’s 53rd Convention
Engaging Learners in Literacy
Georgia
World
Congress Center
Atlanta,
Georgia USA
May
4-8, 2008
Featured Speakers include:
Jamie Lee Curtis, Gail Carson Levine,
Christopher Paul Curtis, Rafe Esquith, Walter Dean Myers, Alfred Tatum,
Andreas
Schleicher, and Alice Walker
For
More Information
log on to: www.reading.org
NNRC
Spring Banquet
Growing Readers
Newport
News Waterworks
700
Town Center Drive, Newport News, VA 23606
May 20, 2008
Featured
Speakers: John Miller, Heidi Mesmer, and
Donna Savage
Interested in
joining IRA? Basic membership is only
$36!!
Newport
News Reading Council
and
Virginia State Reading Association
2008 - 2009 Membership Form
The VSRA Membership year runs
from September 1, 2008 – August 31, 2009
Please print LEGIBLY and
provide all information requested to ensure that you receive all local
council and VSRA mailings.
Date_______________________________
Last
Name____________________________________________ First
Name______________________ Middle Initial ___
Home Address
______________________________________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip
____________________________________________________ Home Phone
_______________________
School
Division/University___________________________
School____________________ Position_________________
E-mail___________________________________________________________
Work Phone________________________
Name of Council you are
joining_______________________________ New Member ___
Renewing Member ___
Type of
Membership: Professional $20 ___
Full-time Student $10 ___ Para-professional $10 ___
Retired $10 ___
___
I wish to join the Secondary Reading Council for an additional $5.00
International Reading
Association Member? Yes___ No ___ If yes, list IRA Membership #
________________________
Would
you like information about the International Reading Association:
Yes ___ No ___
Please make checks payable to
NNRC. Give checks and membership forms to your building
representative.
You may also send them to
Ken
Schmidt, Riverside E.S., in N.N.
Chynita
Turner, Tabb
E.S., in York
County
Sue
Fishman, PPS,
in Poquoson
Dr. Kelly Cartwright
at CNU
Sherry Edbauer,
Bethel Manor E.S., in York County