Literary Learning

Literary Learning is published seasonally by the Vermont Agency of Education's Proficiency-Based Learning team. The newsletter is edited by Emily Leute, the Agency's English Language Arts and Literacy Specialist.

By Emily Leute

I had the good fortune of attending the Vermont Council on Literacy's spring with poet and educator, Georgia Heard. Heard's presentation was powerful and thought-provoking. I have previously written about the power of poetry, but hearing Heard speak reignited in me a passion for poetry that has often gone unfueled. This workshop was a strong reminder about how important it is, especially now, for students to feel seen and heard in their classrooms. As Heard says, creating a culture of poetry is one way to do this.

Heard's presentation, Bringing Poetry to Life: Simple, Joyful Ways to Weave Poetry into Each Week, introduced activities designed to build a culture of poetry, teach the craft of writing, and support students' social-emotional learning.

The first half of the workshop focused on how to create a culture of poetry in the classroom. Participants engaged in activities that encouraged community building and could easily be brought back to the classroom, such as writing collaborative poems. Heard also suggested such practices as including poems in daily classroom routines and posting poetry throughout the classroom.

In addition, Heard talked abou.t the Two Poetry Toolboxes: The Sensory Toolbox, through which we express feelings and experiences through tools such as imagery, figurative language, and word choice, and the Musical Toolbox, which contains such tools of expression as line breaks, rhyme, and repetition. By introducing students to the Two Poetry Toolboxes, we teach them craft while also tapping into social-emotional learning.

Heard referred to her book, Awakening the Heart: 2nd Edition, when she described what she calls a "Heart Map," which is a "tool where you explore through writing and drawing what you've stored in your head. It's a way to process feelings and thoughts - and it's also a doorway into writing." Her presentation included reflective poetry prompts from her book, My Thoughts Are Clouds: Poems for Mindfulness, designed

to support social-emotional learning through self-expression. One example of this is what she calls "My Inner Weather Report" in which students use weather metaphors to describe how they feel inside, illustrating that feelings and emotions can shift and change like the weather.

I would encourage anyone who is curious to check out some of Georgia Heard's books and poems and to incorporate more poetry into the classroom.

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Proficiency scales for the English language arts proficiency-based learning hierarchies for grades K-8 are now available on the AOE's website. A proficiency scale is a criterion-based assessment tool that is task-neutral and includes explicit expectations for learning at each level. A proficiency scale is designed to show a continuum of distinct levels of knowledge and skills relative to a specific performance indicator. These distinct levels are qualitative (not quantitative) and describe what the student can do (rather than not do) at each proficiency level. For more information about the differences between proficiency scales and rubrics, see Vermont Framework for Proficiency: Proficiency Scales and Rubrics.

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By Emily Leute

I recently became aware of an incredible tool from Student Achievement Partners (SAP) called the Essential x Equitable (e2) Instructional Practice Framework.According to SAP, the purpose of this tool is to "establish a shared understanding of, and to support progress towards, a comprehensive vision of high-quality instruction in K-12 classrooms for all students" (SAP, 2023). Like me, SAP believes that "[e]very child deserves access to joyful, high-quality, asset-based instruction" and this tool is a way to make this possible.

Through the e2 framework, SAP asserts that high-quality instruction is grade-level, joyful, linguistically sustaining, and culturally responsive-sustaining and provides relevant research and evidence to support this assertion.

"Taken together, these four categories represent what high-quality instruction looks like. This ambitious vision speaks to the totality of an educator's practice rather than a checklist of what might be present in an individual lesson" (SAP, 2023). In other words, not all components need to be present in every single lesson, but it is good to keep them in mind when planning for overall instruction and assessment and making curricular decisions.

Educators in all content areas can use the framework because it is "anchored in a cross-content vision of high-quality instruction, which serves as a foundation for high-quality instruction across disciplines" (SAP, 2023). The cross-content portion of the framework walks through each of the four categories of high-quality instruction as well as three tenets that provide more information about each area of instruction, including what educators are doing and what students are doing as a result.

For example, on page 14 we learn that joyful instruction: "Fosters a sense of belonging, safety, and affirmation for students; is relevant and promotes students' curiosity, exploration, and creativity; and empowers students to exercise their agency and be collaborators in their own learning."

On page 15, the guide tells us that "when instruction is JOYFUL, Educators…" and lists instructional practices that fall within each of the aforementioned categories (e.g., "create inclusive, safe, and affirming classroom environments;" "normalize making mistakes and embodying a growth mindset;" and "create formal mechanisms for students to have a choice and voice in their learning"). Similarly, page 16 tells us that "in JOYFUL Learning Spaces, Students…" and lists things students do as a result of joyful, high-quality instruction (e.g., "have the skills and knowledge to persevere through challenging moments;" "demonstrate excitement for learning through their questions, comments, and demeanor;" and "see their peers as academic resources").

The section of the framework specific to literacy begins on page 36. This framework provides a helpful reminder that high-quality instructional practices that attend to and support the whole child cannot be distilled to a narrowly defined set of practices but rather must encompass the full research and evidence base. Page 39 explains that high-quality literacy content and instruction "empowers through secure foundational skills and fluency; builds knowledge about self, communities, others, and the world; leverages diverse and complex text; develops oral language and listening skills; and supports volume, quality, and rage of writing."

For each category of high-quality literacy instruction, this section discusses how educators prepare, use texts, curate tasks, and teach, as well as the specific student outcomes that result.

Sticking with the example of joyful instruction, on pages 42-43, the guide says:

In e2 joyful literacy instruction, educators:

• Prepare by setting conditions for all students to connect to and make choices about text, topic, and task, including: - providing a library of wide-ranging texts that represent their interests, identities, and abilities, including texts in multiple languages and at different levels of complexity.
• Use texts that allow for varied entry points into topics/themes under study by connecting to students' interests, identities, curiosity, and existing background knowledge.
• Curate tasks and teach lessons that provide opportunities for fostering engagement and ample student-to-student talk via interactive partner, small-group, and whole-group learning experiences.

So that students build a sense of joy/excitement related to reading, writing, constructing new knowledge, and classroom discussions about content.

To learn more about the framework and other work by SAP, see the resources below:

e2 Resources:

Student Achievement Partners Resources :

• Instructional Practice Guide (IPG) - Achieve the Core: "Observe high-quality, standards-aligned instruction in action. The Instructional Practice Guide (IPG) is designed around Core Actions that encompass the Shifts in instructional practice required by the college- and career-ready standards, including the Common Core."
• Text Analysis Toolkit - This toolkit supports educators in selecting and analyzing texts based on complexity and cultural relevance. The resources focus on tools for reflecting on the identities of educators and the students they serve, analyzing texts with multiple lenses, and considering implications for use in their specific context. The toolkit includes a one-page curated collection of resources to help you facilitate reflections and conversation about race, identity, and bias; get to know your students; understand culturally relevant pedagogy; dig more deeply into text selection and use; and identify multicultural texts.

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• Overview of Act 139 Requirements and Recommendations for Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and Approved Independent Schools - This document summarizes Act 139 requirements for SU/SDs and approved independent schools. This document captures information and support that the AOE has provided during the first year of implementation and issues new recommendations around Act 139 required professional learning.
• Phonics Instruction: What, How, for Whom? - In this webinar, Dr. Louisa Moats generously presents to Vermont educators, pro bono, about how phonics can help educators and leaders effectively support students and make instructional decisions. Watch the webinar and learn about the importance of sound-symbol relationships and their role in supporting students' literacy development, the importance of decodable text, and practical strategies and tools.
• Detailed Outlines for Asynchronous Literacy Professional Learning Series - Detailed outlines are now available for each of the modules in the series Building a Strong Foundation for Lifelong Literacy Success. Educators and leaders can use these outlines to target professional learning within this comprehensive literacy course. View the detailed outlines and register for the modules on the Read Vermont webpage.
• Sign up for the Read Vermont mailing list to stay informed.

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Learn more about ELA on the AOE's website.

Questions? Contact Emily Leute atemily.leute@vermont.gov