When the context of learning shifts as dramatically as it has over the past year, even well-honed practices can be disrupted. In this new world of remote and hybrid learning, how do we engage learners? How do we support them to become fluent readers and writers and experts at learning itself? How do we build comprehension? This 7-part series explores how to provide flexible options for learners to engage in, make meaning from, and express themselves in the hybrid classroom.
For our other webinar series archive, visit Universal Design for Inclusive Literacy.
Having a clear vision of what successful readers and writers do is essential to designing educational experiences to get them there. In this session, we will use the concept of an expert learner to craft a vision of what we are trying to achieve in our classroom. Use this session to set goals for your own practice and choose a place to start in supporting learners to become expert learners.
The first essential building block to an effective literacy approach is to consider the accessibility of the experience. Modeling and practicing tools to make language accessible will increase learners’ ability to focus on new learning. Use this session to experience tools and resources that make literacy instruction more accessible for all learners.
Supporting learners to be active readers and writers takes intentional planning. Learners must feel invested in their own learning and be able to maintain their effort and persistence in sometimes difficult circumstances. Use this session to design options for sustained engagement in your literacy program.
Changes in our learning context can create barriers to our own executive functions. The skills we have developed in the face-to-face classroom may often not be sufficient to manage a new environment. Use this session to support and build your learners’ executive functions so they can be strategic in their literacy learning.
Supporting learners to make meaning of and connect to rigorous texts can be even more of a challenge in the hybrid environment than in a traditional classroom. Use this session to consider practices that help learners take information and make it meaningful and usable knowledge.
Learners are more likely to take academic risks when they see varied models of success and know there are many paths they can take to demonstrate their skill. Use this session to design unique ways for learners to communicate learning and express their abilities.
The move to hybrid literacy instruction has revealed barriers to literacy learning that may have always been there, but for which we now need to plan for more intentionally. What have you learned from this past year? What do you want to continue to do next year? Use this session to reflect and plan for your literacy instruction moving forward.