CEHD News

Summer at the CEHD offers a host of summer institutes for teachers and students. Two of the institutes that focused specifically on literacy and writing were the Kentucky Reading Project and the Louisville Writing Project’s Young Writers Program.

The Kentucky Reading Project (KRP) wrapped up its 11^th successful summer institute in June and Brenda Overturf, director of the KRP, was excited to talk about the enthusiasm and avid engagement of its participants.

“The teachers taking part in the institute began the program shortly after K-12 school ended for the summer. They had little time for a break and were ready to hit the ground running at the first session,” stated Overturf.

The KRP was established in 1999 and is a professional development initiative sponsored by the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development (CCLD). CCLD is a collaboration among Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky State University,  Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University and the National Center for Family Literacy.

The focus of this year’s institute was improving literacy in urban schools, especially the Signature Partnership Schools, and the application of theory and research to meet the needs of all students, addressing equity and diversity issues and their impact on literacy instruction and providing assistance to struggling readers. Teachers taking part in the program receive three hours of college credit at completion.

“The program is a wonderful opportunity to learn new ways to teach literacy and I can’t wait to use it in the classroom. I’ve already been talking with my principal about great ideas for the classroom that could help so many children improve their literacy skills,” said Lonydea Todd, a new teacher in the program.

During the institute, teachers create plans for literacy instruction to implement over the school year and attend a follow-up KRP conference in September. The conference is an opportunity for the group to discuss and assess their plans and ideas for improvement or expansion.

“This program makes me a better teacher because of the ideas we share. It teaches me to be more deliberate in my instruction planning and comprehension strategies, and be better equipped to diagnose problems in my classroom,” said Heather Gregg, a teacher at Atkinson Elementary.

In January each year, the state sends applications to state directors and principals at public schools around the state for teachers to apply to KRP. Only 25 are accepted to the program and the group includes a balance of new and experienced teachers, and teachers from a variety of schools.

Overturf stated that student’s reading scores have been rising steadily in schools were literacy plans have been implemented. The future goal of KRP is to have all universities working towards improved literacy comprehension, reading instruction and family literacy.

Young Writers Program

The Louisville Writing Project (LWP) hosts the Young Writers Program (YWP) each year during the summer in a local public school. YWP is a state network of schools that work actively together to improve student writing instruction.

This year the program was held in Olmstead South Middle School for teachers and students. The goals of the session was to connect with colleagues to form a community of learners, teachers and students; explore possibilities of editing and revisions with student writing; how to apply in the classroom what has been learned in the program; and to identify strategies and components for helping students suffering from writer’s block.

The students participating in the YWP wrote and created poetry using Photo Story 3 and then presented their poems to the rest of the students and teachers in the class. The program was also a professional development opportunity for teachers to study the genre of poetry and work with students on grammar, simile and metaphors.

“Teachers learn so much from the students. They do outstanding work and are very sincere about what they are doing,” stated Lisa Downes, a teacher in the program.

The kids were asked at their last session what they liked about the program and most of them stated together, “we really had a good time!”

To learn about the YWP, contact the LWP at 502-852-4544, or visit the website at http://louisville.edu/education/research/lwp/.