Announcer (00:01): Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas school district. This is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director. Curtis. Long

Curtis Long (00:14): Well, so far on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast. We've spent an episode riding in the front seat of a school bus.

Bus Driver (00:22): Come in in guys.

Curtis Long (00:23): We've cheered in a middle school assembly. We've even chased principals around a basketball court at six o'clock in the morning. But today is a whole new chapter. Shh.

2nd Grade Teacher (00:36): Okay, friends, last week we were doing beginning blends. Two letters that blend together to help you be good readers. So I'm gonna do a word and then you're gonna blend in your head. Read this word, what is it?

Curtis Long (00:47): We're in the front row of an NCSD second grade classroom as a daily favorite lesson is just beginning for some eager seven and eight year olds. And if you think based on what you're hearing, it's a reading lesson. Uh, you took the words right out of my mouth. Well, actually their mouths. These are second graders in Rebecca Olson's class at Scout's Mountain Elementary School. Olson meets with different small groups of readers each day at her kidney shape table in a crowded corner of the classroom.

2nd Grade Teacher (01:19): Sound it out in your head. What's this word? Yes. Good.

2nd Grade Teacher (01:21): Get so see how it's fast when you see that, that those are blends and we call them final blends or end blends.

Curtis Long (01:26): These kids aren't the strongest readers in the class. In fact, many were reluctant to read out loud when the school year started. But thanks to some targeted teaching strategies, you wouldn't know it today. These second graders are now excited to read and just as excited to share the skills they're learning to become better readers. What's today's lesson?

Ben (2nd Grader) (01:45): Blends are like example four, let's say use camp so you don't have to sound it out, you know, and then you just have to go, eh. And then you can just go. Hmm. Or you can go camp.

Curtis Long (01:59): That's eight year old Ben, who proudly wanted to make sure we heard him do something he couldn't do just a couple months ago. Read an entire second grade level paragraph.

Ben (2nd Grader) (02:08): Dear grandma, I wanted to write you about our trip.

Curtis Long (02:15): We'll get back to Ben's reading spark a little bit later on. But first, a few questions that spark this podcast. Why teach emerging readers how to recognize end blends or beginning blends or blends at all? Is such phonemic awareness the key to teaching young readers? What about using picture clues to help figure out unfamiliar words? Should there be a balance between teaching strategies? Those are the types of questions. Cohorts of N C S D, kindergarten, first and second grade teachers like Olson have been wrestling with during after school weekly meetings since the school year started. Today's Proud To Be NCSD podcast is on a read to know basis, and we're joined by the three literacy leaders of those weekly decoding discussions. NCSD's, emergent literacy specialists, Nadia Boria, Jaime Clarke, and Kari Tunstill, Nadia, Jaime. Kari, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here. I think this is a fascinating topic and for the first time ever on this podcast, I can say let's get down and wordy <laugh> <laugh>. Let's have each of you introduce yourselves. Give a quick 32nd summary of your experience at North Clackamas and what you're doing now.

Kari Tunstill (03:16): I'm Kari Tunstill, and I am the old lady in the group. I say I've had a long career here in North Clackamas, over 20 years in North Clackamas in the last 18 years. I have in some capacity, been an instructional coach. I began my career many years ago as a learning specialist. So I always bring that special education lens to my work. And I also do some professional development throughout the state.

Curtis Long (03:39): And I remember my time at my very first classroom ever. Yep. Mrs. Tunstill was the learning specialist at Happy Valley Elementary.

Kari Tunstill (03:46): Curtis was next door.

Curtis Long (03:47): Yep I was <laugh>

Kari Tunstill (03:48): <laugh> Just as loud then as he is now. <laugh>

Curtis Long (03:51): <laugh> Yep my first classroom ever.

Jaime Clarke (03:53): I am Jaime Clarke. I've been teaching in North Clackamas for 17 years now. Doesn't feel possible. I spent 10 years teaching at Mount Scott Elementary and Intermediate and then down to kindergarten. Spent some time as a benchmark specialist with second grade reading and then fourth and fifth grade math. So I was all over the place at Mount Scott. For the last several years, I've been working as a district instructional coach focused on curriculum adoption and implementation. So professional development has been a big part of my job. My favorite professional development that we've been a part of over the last few years was really getting teachers into each other's classrooms through lessons study, being able to learn with students alongside teachers. And now I get to do that all day every day in kindergarten.

Nadia Boria (04:34): I'm Nadia Boria. I actually started my career in North Clackamas as a kindergarten student at Bilquist Elementary and then finished out at Happy Valley and graduated from Clackamas. So I went through the Sabin-Schellenberg Education program. So that was a pretty cool thing to get to come back and teach. I've taught mostly second and third grade here in North Clackamas. I did do a little bit of time as a health and wellness teacher. I taught a year of high school working with high schoolers who wanted to become teachers at Sabin. And then now this last year I was an instructional coach at Seth Lewelling, and now I am working in this role as an emergent literacy specialist.

Curtis Long (05:06): Of the three of you. I've worked with Nadia the most, but I never knew that you were once a Bilquist Bronco at one time, <laugh>.

Nadia Boria (05:12): I still remember that playground and how much I loved going there.

Curtis Long (05:15): <laugh>. That's fantastic. Well, it's great to have all three of you here for sure. Now, a recent article in the Oregonian stated that most recent test scores in Oregon showed that a significant amount of third graders and seventh graders tested aren't fully proficient at reading. And it's not just in Oregon. In fact, there's a nationwide debate about how reading is taught. Why is this?

Jaime Clarke (05:33): Well, Curtis, what it comes down to is just not enough. Students are proficient readers across our nation, especially historically marginalized students. According to the most recent national assessment of education progress study on student achievement in literacy, also known as the Nation's report card, 37% of America's children were reading below basic level. This statistic includes students of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. And research is just teaching us more and more about how students learn to read. So we've got the information now to move students along and reach those goals in a better way.

Curtis Long (06:06): I think some people think learning to read is as simple as learning your letter sounds and then putting those sounds together. But I'm hearing a lot about the term science of reading. That sounds pretty fancy. What does that mean?

Kari Tunstill (06:16): Well, what it really means is the science of reading is a body of science research. And that research comes from a lot of different types of science. So it comes from educational science, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics. And so you take all that research and you combine it together to come up with the ideas of what are the best ways to teach kids and how kids learn how to read. So we are taking that, what we know from the science of reading all the research, we're taking those and combining it together to really help teachers to know the best ways to teach kids to read. Sometimes what I hear is like, oh, the pendulum is just swinging back to phonics. And I would say, no, it is not swinging back because we're not doing it the way I did it a million years ago when I was teaching a lot of phonics. Really, I would say the pendulum is shifting. So yes, it's a big piece of phonics, but the way we teach that phonics is different because now we know from neuroscience, which is part of science, of reading, how the brain learns words. And we'll talk about that a little bit more in a bit. So we are adopting those practices in our teaching of reading and then also keeping some of the practices that we've been teaching kids around comprehension and vocabulary. We're keeping those practices.

Curtis Long (07:23): I think it's fascinating. We'll get into this I'm sure in our discussion with you, that there's so much more that goes into it. Like you mentioned neuroscience. I mean I, I would guess 20, 25 years ago we weren't even thinking about how the brain works in the, in the function of reading. And now we have insight on how the brain works and how it operates to make sure kids are learning the skills they need to learn. I think it's fascinating and it must be what you guys are engulfed with a a lot of times, and we'll talk about your jobs as we go on in the podcast, but you're looking at all this research and probably these fancy articles that come out and thinking, oh my gosh, we gotta apply this too.

Kari Tunstill (07:54): Yeah sometimes you feel like we're back in college for sure.

Curtis Long (07:56): <laugh>. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking you have to do lots of studying and just like a student would have to look up some of these big words, what do these mean?

Nadia Boria (08:02): And the thing is, in elementary, you're expected to be an expert across every subject area. And so teachers just don't have time to stay up on all the current research in every single aspect of their teaching. And so the fact that we can do some of that learning and come alongside and help support teachers will help lighten their load a little.

Curtis Long (08:19): Now we have Nadia and Kari and Jaime who are looking at that research now. What are some examples of the shifts in North Clackamas as far as putting that research to work?

Jaime Clarke (08:27): Last spring we started looking at new curriculums to add to our existing literacy program that would give teachers the tools they need to teach phonics systematically and explicitly. Just something that's really come out of the research, the importance of that. So we now have a new phonics curriculum and it's been the focus of our professional development for all of our K2 teachers as well as principals this year. And then embedded in that new program, we're really getting kids ready to read from day one in kindergarten. So instead of only learning alphabetic principle and kindergartners walking away with their letters and sounds, now within the first few weeks of kindergarten, they're learning how to use those sounds to read and blend words together and do some writing of words too.

Curtis Long (09:08): And I think what people forget and maybe don't realize that we have kindergartners that come to us at five years old who don't know all their letters yet, they haven't learned that or how to put sounds together. So our teachers have kids that don't know all their letters to kids that are already blending sounds that maybe had access to preschool and access to early learning opportunities. So it's really a big challenge for our teachers at all levels. But I would think especially at kindergarten when you're first getting those kids.

Jaime Clarke (09:31): It's he trickiest job I have ever had for sure.

Nadia Boria (09:34): <laugh>. So another one of those shifts that North Clackamas is making is we're really reconsidering the type of text we have our youngest readers using. What I mean by that is we have purchased decodable readers in every K2 classroom so that teachers can use those in whole group and small group instruction. A decodable reader is really a text that gives students opportunities to apply the phonics knowledge that we're doing in class into text. So that's another one of our big shifts is really this idea of application. We don't want kids to get really good at phonics and think their phonics is just something I do during phonics time. Hmm. The whole reason that we do phonics is that we can use that knowledge as readers and writers. So by providing those decodable texts, students have lots of opportunity if they're learning about blends. So just like you heard Ben reading and learning about blends, then he also had opportunity to learn about that in isolation and then immediately apply that knowledge to a decodable text that uses blends. So that way kids are really seeing this idea of application and transfer.

Curtis Long (10:31): So that's the reason we heard at the beginning, Ben reading that passage that had a bunch of beginning blends in it that's on purpose that was written that way. So kids are learning to recognize those beginning blends.

Nadia Boria (10:42): Yeah so we're trying to spend about half of a lesson spent on that time of application, so that way kids don't think phonics is just for phonics, but they're really seeing how it transfers immediately to reading and to writing. So we do a lot of work around dictation as well.

Kari Tunstill (10:54): So another shift that we've been making is around high frequency words and how we teach them. And what I mean by that is those are words like the and said and of and was that don't follow the typical phonics pattern. So what we used to do is we used to just tell kids they had to memorize what the word looked like. Right? And so kids that didn't have really big working memory, it really put them at a disadvantage. And now we know from brain-based research that there's a better way to teach those high frequency words. So we teach the kids to connect how many sounds are in the word, what letters do match the sounds that are in the word? Which part do they have to just memorize by heart, which is just a really small part of the word, like in the word does, you'd have to memorize the OE goes together to say, uh, but the D and the S right? They, they make the right sound and then attaching meaning to those words. So not just memorizing words, but thinking about the sounds and the letters and what the word means and how to use it in a sentence. So that's one shift.

Curtis Long (11:50): So no more like what I was doing when you were right down the, the hall from me 25 years ago, holding up flashcards with certain words on them and making sure that my kids memorized those so they could read those in the probably the anthology that we had for the classroom.

Kari Tunstill (12:02): Exactly. I'm sure I, I went around for years teaching teachers to teach that way, teaching parents to teach their kids that way. But we know now that's not the best way. So we have shifted pretty quickly and really hard. That's been a big part of our professional development with teachers and with instructional assistance even, is making sure that we're not doing that memorization anymore. Hmm. And then we've also, in addition to shifting those high frequency words, we've also shifted around our small group instruction with kids that need it into a more structured literacy process where we're thinking about following a scope and sequence, thinking about what sounds and phonics patterns do kids still need to learn, teaching them those patterns until they have it using assessment before moving on and really following student need versus just pushing through with curriculum. So that's been another big shift that we've been working on with teachers.

Curtis Long (12:48): So there could be groups within a classroom, a a teacher calling groups back to his or her table that's based on a specific skill. It's not necessarily the, like I remember when I was younger it was the Blackbird or the Ravens or whatever in different reading groups. It could be focused on one skill that that group of kids needs to continue to practice.

Kari Tunstill (13:07): Exactly. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> exactly.

Jaime Clarke (13:08): With that is a lot of flexibility. So a student sees themselves in lots of different groups, right? They're not always with the same set of kids that they start to figure out, oh, what does it mean to be a blackbird, for example? A bluebird always responsive to what that student needs at that moment in time.

Nadia Boria (13:24): Yeah and the way we've really done that is focus a lot of our work with teachers around assessment literacy. So really getting good at analyzing your assessments so you can know just what students need and help give them that.

Curtis Long (13:34): I imagine you work with teachers on making sure that they have the right assessments in place and what they're looking for.

Nadia Boria (13:40): Absolutely. That's been a big part of how we've started out the work this year.

Jaime Clarke (13:42): And alongside that, not only knowing a student's skills at this moment, but also knowing them as an individual. So what interests the student? What kind of books would they love to be reading so teachers can meet them right where they are as individual humans.

Curtis Long (13:55): That's a good point because I remember even when I was young, which is a long time ago, you used to have the anthology of just a bunch of stories in one book you'd turn to a certain page and but didn't matter if you weren't interested in that topic, that's what you were assigned to read and that's what you had to learn to read

Kari Tunstill (14:08): One shift. That backing up a little bit to what Nadia was saying about these decodable readers back, some of us that learned how to read with a decodable reader, those books really were like the cat sat on the mat. Right? Right. No cat sits on any mat <laugh>.

Curtis Long (14:20): So they don't?

Kari Tunstill (14:21): No <laugh>.

Curtis Long (14:22): That's been great. Is he named Matt?

Jaime Clarke (14:24): I've yet to see a pig do a jig.

Curtis Long (14:27): Really? A pig doesn't. A pig won't do a jig.

Kari Tunstill (14:29): So decodable readers have really come a long way in just their language structure and the things that they're interested in, in representation of different kinds of students. So our decodable readers are much higher quality than the kinds of decodable readers we had seen in the past.

Curtis Long (14:44): But for our listeners who are trying to figure out, okay, what's a decodable reader? That's basically what it is. It is a rat sat on a mat alongside his friend the cat. Right. We're trying to get that same sound repeated over and over again.

Kari Tunstill (14:57): Exactly <laugh>, you've already learned Curtis.

Curtis Long (14:58): Yeah, I remember those. I remember those. Just listening to that. You can think how that would turn a kid off to reading just that same sound over and over again. And this story doesn't make any sense <laugh> who would ever write about this? So it's nice to hear that we're evolving from that and really with some intention on our decodable readers, making them more interesting for kids.

Jaime Clarke (15:16): And there's nothing that can turn a kid onto reading more than feeling successful. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> at reading. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So when we put the right text in front of them and they can feel what it's like to be a reader, the success just builds upon itself.

Curtis Long (15:28): Okay. Now that we've given listeners a background in different reading terms and approaches to instruction, let's talk about your roles this year as emergent literacy specialists. None of you work in specific schools, so what does a week look like for each of you?

Kari Tunstill (15:39): I say this is my favorite job I've ever had and I've had a lot

Curtis Long (15:42): You've had a lot.

Kari Tunstill (15:43): A long time. This is my favorite job for sure. And part of that is, is one part of our role, we have many hats that we wear, but one part of that role is we have a cohort of 30 teachers. Okay. Um, those 30 teachers applied and signed up to work with us. And what does that mean? They work with us about every other week in the evenings for three hours. So they've been teaching all day. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then they come see us in the evening for three hours. We always say we're gonna let 'em outta class early and we never do. Cuz there's so much to learn.

Curtis Long (16:10): <laugh>,Are they getting paid? I wanna know. Yes. They they are getting paid good.

Kari Tunstill (16:13): They're getting paid and or they are as part of our work during that three hours, they're working towards getting their reading endorsements. Oh cool. So we'll have, uh, many more teachers in K2 that have their reading endorsements, which basically means extra credential cuz they have more expertise in teaching reading. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So that's part of our cohort of 30 teachers. That's part of what we do. The other part of what we do is really job embedded work. So we teach something at class and then the three of us go out into classrooms. So I'm the first grade emergent literacy specialist. So if I teach something around high frequency words, then I'm in my 10 teachers classrooms either modeling or watching and giving feedback or planning together so that they're not just learning something in their head, that they're really having to apply what they're learning immediately in their classroom. So what we see in the classroom helps us to know like what more teaching do we need to do and how might we need to, for example, maybe even tweak the curriculum that we have to make it more accessible to teachers and students.

Jaime Clarke (17:11): So with continuous improvement being the ultimate goal and to spread that improvement across the entire school district, we take what we're learning in these classrooms of our 30 teachers and the coursework we're doing with them. And we're taking that through a process called plan Do Study Act. Okay. So we are, we're planning this professional learning and resources based on the latest research and the strategies and the curriculums that we have. Then we support teachers with that implementation and then we stay super close to what's happening in the classrooms. So looking at student assessment, sitting down side by side with teachers and students to figure out what's working and maybe what we need to make a, a bigger shift with. And then we can take that information and act on it at the district level and spread that learning around to support widespread implementation was something that we've tried and no works. So those, those things that we're learning in our group, we then can make plans for next year how we're going to maybe adjust our instructional framework or what other curriculum tools we might need to invest in. As well as informing the professional development that we do across the district for all teachers on those no student contact days. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we get to meet with all 150 ish kindergarten, first and second grade teachers and teach some of the things we've been learning.

Curtis Long (18:22): So families, if you're listening to this and wondering, hey, what happens on those teacher in-service days? These are the people behind those kind of days. So we've been spending a lot of time throughout the year studying classrooms, studying what teachers are doing and we learn from that and then we decide what to do on those teacher planning days or teacher in-service days. Those are separate. Planning days are different, but in-service days where they're doing some professional learning and they're doing that within our own district, this is a lot of what they're doing is we're learning from what we've done throughout the year and trying to make ourselves better teachers.

Jaime Clarke (18:51): Absolutely. And you know, those non-student days that are professional development days don't give us even enough time. Right. To be able to teach all of the things that we're learning. So we've been offering some additional professional development after hours that teachers are choosing to come and join after school and learn a little tidbit here and there about literacy practices. And then we've also been able to take that learning to principals. They meet every so often and we go in and teach them part of what they should be watching for in classrooms and how they can also support teachers in their building with implementing some of these shifts.

Curtis Long (19:23): And I can say as a former principal up until this year, that is very important because principals aren't in the classroom all the time. Most of them have been teachers before, but maybe have been out of the classroom for a long time. So it's nice for me as a principal to be taught, Hey, here's what you should be looking for. Remember when you taught, you taught out of anthologies and showed flashcards. We don't do that anymore. <laugh>, here's what you should be looking for. So it's very nice to have that for our administrators as well. I'm sure they appreciate that.

Jaime Clarke (19:47): Yeah. We've gotten some feedback from principals that it's really helped them be able to go alongside teachers and support them in supporting their students. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Curtis Long (19:55): Speaking of supporting students as this storied edition of The Proud To Be NCSD podcast turns the page toward the second half. We've already learned how specific reading strategies have crept into memories of students like Ben.

Ben (2nd Grader) (20:07): Crept.

Curtis Long (20:08): What's unique about "crept?"

Ben (2nd Grader) (20:09): Unique about Crept is it has a blend at the start and blend at the end.

Curtis Long (20:14): But is this improved reading confidence blending into improved writing? Up next hear how learning to read for many students is becoming love at first...write. Right after this.

Mitzi Bauer (20:24): Hello, I'm Mitzi Bauer, chair of the North Clackamas School District School

Jena Benologa (20:28): Board and I'm Jena Benologa, one of six other directors on our current board.

Mitzi Bauer (20:33): We are committed to listening and serving North Clackamas residents as we work together to provide the best possible learning environment for the students we serve.

Jena Benologa (20:42): As members of the North Clackamas school board, we believe it is our duty and responsibility to increase student achievement, recognize and reward quality in educators, empower school leaders through policy governance and professional development, and communicate with the public legislators, business leaders, cities and parents.

Mitzi Bauer (20:59): We invite you to join us online at our bimonthly board meetings held on the second and fourth Thursday's of most months. For more information, you can visit the North Clackamas District website

Jena Benologa (21:10): With parent and community input and support. We will continue our work to give students every opportunity to succeed in all North Clackamas school district schools and beyond.

Mitzi Bauer (21:19): Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Curtis Long (21:22): Okay. So Kari, you have the first graders. Yep. And Jaime, you have the kindergartners. I do. Nadia, that leaves you with second graders that it does <laugh>. How's it going in second grade? What types of things are you doing?

Nadia Boria (21:34): Yeah, I always say like the time we get to spend in the classrooms is the best part of our week. So we get to be around kids really working on applying all these skills, celebrating some of the joys that we've had with teachers and being there side by side with teachers as they're, they have a question that comes up where we see a student doing something and we're not quite sure what it means. The fact we have two brains in a room where we can make some adjustments. One of my favorite parts of the week, one last area when we're thinking about literacy overall is the area of writing. So we've been doing as a district, lots of work this year around improving writing instruction as well. Really looking at again, that idea of application of phonics to reading and to writing. Kari, do you know about how many hours of writing professional development that teachers have had this year?

Kari Tunstill (22:15): I think between the summer literacy Institute and then the afterschool sessions around teaching teachers about new units and then checking in mid-unit. I'm guessing we've had around 30 hours that teachers have signed up for professional development around best practices and how to teach writing.

Nadia Boria (22:31): That's awesome. And it's been spread out all throughout the year. So it's been just in time professional development. So right before we're gonna start a new unit, we do some learning around that together to build up teacher expertise before they go to teach that unit.

Curtis Long (22:43): And we're seeing quite a connection between reading instruction and having it translate to writing. Then kids who are excited to read, to become excited to write.

Nadia Boria (22:51): Absolutely. We've never seen so much energy and positivity around writing. Kids are making books and working on applying that phonics knowledge Right. In their writing to the books that they're making. And Jaime, you were talking about how we can build up that status as readers and their identity as readers and think about interests. Everything in writing has been around student choice and kids are seeing themselves as writers and as authors of these books

Jaime Clarke (23:14): And just begging for more time to write and make books that they're

Curtis Long (23:18): So, kids are disappointed when teacher calls out. Well, writing time is just about overtime to start picking up. Yeah.

Jaime Clarke (23:24): Oh sorry kids, we have to go to recess <laugh> and

Curtis Long (23:27): They all groan.

Kari Tunstill (23:28): <laugh>. That's actually kind of a true story. <laugh>. Yeah,

Curtis Long (23:31): We, we've had kids that uh, are a little disappointed that it's recess time when they could be doing some more writing or some more reading. Yeah,

Nadia Boria (23:37): Absolutely. And I think that's been the great thing about getting to spend so much time in classrooms is we're there to see the impact of mm-hmm. <affirmative>, our work, the work that we're doing on students. It's what it's all about.

Curtis Long (23:46): And how inspiring is this for teachers? I'm sure you've gotta be hearing from teachers who for, I mean, let's be honest, sometimes writing isn't the most exciting thing to teach the kids when they're not engaged in it. We're finding a way through research and through the work that you're doing, teachers are hooking kids into writing. Now you've gotta be hearing positive thoughts from lots of teachers.

Kari Tunstill (24:05): Yeah I think because teachers now know how to teach writing. Yeah. So they're much more engaged because they feel like they're confident doing it themselves. And then because they're confident and they spread their love of writing, now students are loving writing. Second grade is just getting ready to embark on a unit of poetry. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> first grade is working on some how to books. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but not like how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Right. But things that are a little bit more interesting than just how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Like maybe how to walk your dog. Right. Um, or how to be a good friend to someone, or how to be a good big sister. So things that really are enticing kids a little bit more. And then kids are happy to be writing

Curtis Long (24:44): Let's think about that. At first grade, this is not two sentences and they're done. They're really learning how to structure a paragraph. And these are six and seven year olds who are able to do that through this teaching and through this research that we've done. Mm-hmm.

Jaime Clarke (24:56): <affirmative>You know, teaching is such an incredibly hard job and one of the best ways to be able to find joy in your work when it is hard work is seeing that payoff and seeing that spark in kids.

Curtis Long (25:07): It's very much a shift in our district, I think. And it's a, it's a wave of excitement like you talked about in reading and writing that I think is really translating into our students, which is why I wanted to have the three of you on today. You're really doing some amazing work as emergent literacy specialists here in our district. And it's a new position. Right. This is the first year we've had this mm-hmm. <affirmative> and we're really seeing the dividends already. It must be really fun for you guys to get those texts and emails and videos sent to you from teachers from all around the district.

Nadia Boria (25:32): Yeah and one of the things that we're learning too is that year two is actually where you can expect to see the biggest gains in all of the research. So we're really excited about next year and thinking about how this work is gonna continue impacting students.

Curtis Long (25:44): Well that was leading right to my next question. So when it comes to reading instruction in North Clackamas, what are you most excited about? And Nadia's already alluded to, we're excited to see how it translates into next year.

Kari Tunstill (25:54): Well, in first grade, a lot of people connect me with being the DIBELS geek. <laugh>. DIBELS being an assessment that we've given in our district for years to our K2 students. But when we were looking at our into January reading data, it was really exciting because normally in years past, when we look at our fall assessments and we look at our winter assessments, we actually end up having more students that need intensive instructional support. Mm-hmm <affirmative> going from fall to winter. And this was the first time in years that we had looked at the data where the number actually went in the reverse. Mm. We have less students needing intensive support in the classroom. And that's super exciting to me that one, it's a shift. And two, it was a pretty big shift in just a small amount of time that we've been doing this work and using our new pH phonics to reading curriculum and teachers just really diving into the work. So I feel very hopeful going back to what Nadia said in year two when we have even more continually fine-tuning that curriculum, teachers are continuing to learn more and more about sciences of reading. I think that's super exciting. And then I'm excited to have more teachers joining us in bigger ways even next year

Jaime Clarke (27:03): When I think about this year's kindergartners and the instruction that they've had and the practice that they've had with this explicit systematic phonics instruction in the way that they're not only learning their letters, but learning how to use letters for real life reading and writing. It makes me so excited to see what first grade teachers are going to be able to do next year. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> with first graders coming in with so many tools in their tool belts already from kindergarten. And then we're at that point in kindergarten right now where light bulbs are just going off all over the place. <laugh> and, and kids are seeing themselves as readers and writers all of the time. So watching that excitement build around reading and writing and that a continued growth.

Nadia Boria (27:39): One of the things that I'm really excited about is how our group of cohort teachers started right away with ssc, their students knowing what they needed and then giving them that instruction that they needed through structured literacy. And what's been really exciting is for students who started right away, they're starting to close the gap and have gone from being a year and a half, two years behind in some cases to returning to what we call core instruction. So they're accessing what a typical second grader is learning in the whole group. They're now able to participate in that learning where before, at the beginning of the year, that was a struggle. So we're starting to see some students who were really striving as readers are now closing some of those gaps. And then the other thing that's just been so exciting about is the way teachers feel about the work that we're doing and the satisfaction. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> that they have in their job. Teaching is so hard and it can be so isolating, but when you're seeing the difference that it's making and the payoff of all your hard work that's happening, nothing feels better than that.

Curtis Long (28:33): Must be fun for the three of you too who all have been in that situation in a classroom with struggling readers and thinking, I'm not sure what to do next to have a resource like the three of you. It must be rewarding for you guys to see that growth in students and in teachers. The excitement in teachers. I wish we would've had emergent literacy specialists when I was teaching. Kari spent enough time in my room my first year anyway, so <laugh>, I wish we would've had that for sure.

Jaime Clarke (28:56): She was in my room my second year too.

Curtis Long (28:58): <laugh>.

Nadia Boria (28:59): And you've actually been in my room too. So look at, she's worked with all of us. She's helped us grow at different points in our career.

Kari Tunstill (29:04): Remember I'm the old lady <laugh>.

Curtis Long (29:06): Okay. Before you go, I promise Ben from Mrs. Olson's class that I would show off his reading skills for you during this podcast. Let's listen to Ben read and then let's hear your feedback for him. Okay. You just heard Ben, who we know struggled a little bit at the beginning of the year. You can hear the progress in it. What do you think Emergent literacy specialist, what do you think of Ben's reading there?

Nadia Boria (29:25): Well, I thought that was a great example of a decodable text where you heard from his clip at the beginning of our time together today how he's working on blends. And the whole point of when he recognizes a blend in text, he can scoop up those words to decode them as he's working on becoming a more fluent reader. So he is getting lots of opportunities to practice that skill and you can tell he is starting to be able to really decode some of those words and he'll continue to work on becoming a more fluent reader as he gets those words mapped into his brain and they all become sight words for him.

Kari Tunstill (29:53): I think you can also tell, like that book is interesting, right? It made sense. It kind of flowed like how you would think a book would flow, which makes it actually easier for kids to read when it actually flows, like how we speak. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I think you also noticed that with his reading.

Jaime Clarke (30:07): Could you hear the smile <laugh>?

Nadia Boria (30:09): I was just thinking about the confidence that he has coming from the beginning of the year to now. He sees himself as a reader and he'll continue to grow because he feels like that and he has the knowledge and the skills now that he needs to continue him on his path.

Curtis Long (30:23): And remember, this is a kid who volunteered to come out in the hallway with someone he didn't know very well. Oh sure. I'll read into your fancy microphone here. I'll do it. <laugh>. So I think that says a lot about him and the confidence that he has in his ability, which I hear, I know. I wasn't there at the beginning of the year, which I hear wasn't there at the beginning of the school year. So that's pretty cool.

Nadia Boria (30:39): Yeah. And that's just one example of how a teacher has really gotten to apply those skills to give Ben just what he needs and it's having an impact on him and he's returning to core instruction now. It's just a big deal for him.

Curtis Long (30:51): Okay. Jaime's had kindergarten teachers this year. Kari's had first grade and Nadia had second grade. We just heard Ben read. And I just think as final thoughts, I mean we talked a little bit about Ben's second grade teacher, how good that makes her feel. But I imagine all of you have stories like that and how proud you must be of the teachers that you've worked with. And hearing that kind of progress from students must be really rewarding for you as part of your position.

Jaime Clarke (31:13): Absolutely. You know, I said earlier that being a kindergarten teacher was the hardest job I've ever had. And I mean it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, there is no tired like kindergarten teacher tired. So to see these teachers come back week after week for these three hour classes at night after a whole day in a kindergarten classroom and they're in it and ready to learn and excited to go and try and do with their kids because their kids are making magic in the classroom with this information. It's just so exciting.

Nadia Boria (31:40): I think one of the things too that's been so great with this cohort of teachers is we're starting to see them step up and take on different leadership opportunities. So some of them have helped with leading professional development for their peers at district wide events. Some of them have offered little classes optional after school, paid professional development sessions around things that they've learned and tried out and are sharing with their colleagues. And even just as simple as some teachers going and talking to the teacher next door, Hey, I'm learning this. It's working really well, you need to try it too. So we're really seeing our teachers step up as leaders and share the knowledge so it doesn't just stay within our cohort.

Kari Tunstill (32:13): I always tell the first grade teachers that there is no bigger honor or responsibility in my book than being a first grade teacher. Sorry, you other two! <Laugh>.

Curtis Long (32:22): <laugh>.

Kari Tunstill (32:22): That's what I tell 'em all the time. And the reason I say that is because first grade is really where you have got to teach kids how to read. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that is a huge honor to think that you send kids off into the world as a reader. Like how huge is that? And huge responsibility. And these cohort teachers have really taken that responsibility on with Gusto. They really wanna know which kids can use the skills and apply them and which kids still really need to work on it and how they can do it. They reach out. If I haven't reached out to someone just today, I got a calendar invite to have me in their classroom. Cause I didn't have anything set up because they want me, they want support in order to make sure they are taking their responsibility of teaching these first graders to read very seriously.

Curtis Long (33:04): Okay. Jaime Clark, Kari Tunstill. Nadia Boria, our emergent literacy specialists. They work with kindergarten, first, and second grade teachers, but not all teachers. They're not all involved in your cohorts, but all of our teachers, districtwide can certainly benefit from that and you're certainly willing to work with them as well and make sure that they're getting the same level of support that the cohort teachers are getting.

Jaime Clarke (33:24): We've had the opportunity to work with all of the teachers in the district on a few different occasions this year through professional development as we're learning, we're also creating resources that we're pushing out to teachers through emails and newsletters to make sure that they've got the tools that they need as well. And then we are always getting emails from teachers out in and outside of the cohort asking for additional support that we're happy to give.

Curtis Long (33:47): And thanks to that support from Nadia, Jaime, and Kari, we're all happy to see the smiles on the faces of North Clackamas primary teachers who are instilling a love of reading and writing in their students every day. All of you truly make us proud to be N C S D. You know who else is proud? How about the classrooms full of students joyfully showing off their reading skills each day? Students just like Ben

Ben (2nd Grader) (34:08): My favorite part about reading is getting entertained by the book and learning.

Curtis Long (34:13): Couldn't have summed it up better myself. Ben, we hope all of you have been entertained today and did a little learning along the way about our district's commitment to literacy in the early grades. It's not too early to start thinking about the next Proud To Be NCSD podcast. That'll be out next week after all is read and done.

2nd Grade Teacher (34:29): Who can tell me why do we wanna practice those implants? What's our goal? What are we trying to do?

2nd Grader (34:33): We're trying to work on write better and read better.

2nd Grade Teacher (34:36): Awesome. So this helps you as a reader and a writer. You're right.

Curtis Long (34:39): We'll talk to you then.

Announcer (34:41): Thanks for listening to The Proud To Be NCSD podcast. In North Clackamas, we know that education is a community effort and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in N C S D.