I’m excited to be joining COHORT 21 with my colleague, Melody. The strand we are focusing on is pedagogy, belonging and well-being (Jk-6) but specifically a focus on Literacy Practices and how best to teach, support, and assess our students in the realm of literacy. Melody and I have been working together for a few years now and last year we began a deep dive into Literacy practices, spurred on by the Science of Reading and the renewed Ontario language arts curriculum. Our collaboration is exciting to me – to have a thought partner in this work is a WIN!
I don’t think we realized that there were well-being focused strands that our project should fall within when we signed up : / but we definitely have a project in mind linking to pedagogy and supporting students.
There have been many developments at our primary in the realm of literacy in the last years and we still have some learning to do. However, Melody and I are challenged by how to capture it all in a meaningful way – a format for capturing learning that weaves in the 5 pillars of reading with writing. We have many documents that capture literacy learning but no ONE place to go to capture it all.
So, while we don’t have a fulsome plan, and we acknowledge our thinking may shift, we hope to begin to:
- develop something based on what we already do organized by the pillars of reading (to build out as we go with collaborators at school)
- capture our writing text types across curriculum to be built out further
- research writing continuums and best practices
- use ONT LA curriculum to guide
- examine where syntax/sentence level work lives in both reading and writing to intentionally shore these up
- connect to experts in our community
- tap into other sources through COHORT connections
- get guidance from our school literacy consultant/partner
While our ideas plentiful, we are open to adjusting our thinking along the way and maybe there will be a place to weave in some well-being thinking.We know there is a lot here so it may be a multi-year project but we’d like to get well on the way through our COHORT time this year.
Happy to meet you all and read your posts! See. you soon.
It’s fantastic to see how much thought and collaboration you and Melody are already putting into your literacy initiative. The work you’re doing to integrate the Science of Reading with the renewed Ontario Language Arts curriculum is not only timely but also incredibly impactful for your students’ learning. Having a thought partner like Melody to brainstorm and innovate with is such a win—and your openness to adapting and refining your plans will undoubtedly lead to a successful and meaningful action plan. Your idea of organizing your work around the five pillars of reading while connecting to writing is a solid, research-based approach that will give you clarity and cohesion as you develop resources, implement strategies, and assess progress.
The challenge of capturing everything in a meaningful and centralized way resonates with many educators, and your focus on creating a unified system to organize and build on your school’s literacy practices will be a valuable tool for both teachers and students. Acknowledging that this might be a multi-year project is a wise approach, as it allows you to prioritize goals for this year while leaving room to expand and deepen the work over time.
At the 2nd face to face keep this in mind so you can set some realistic targets for year one.
As you design this system, it’s worth considering what an ideal centralized tool might look like—whether it’s a shared digital document, an online collaboration hub, or another dynamic format that can grow with your practices. Mapping writing text types across the curriculum to specific reading skills within the five pillars could help create intentional connections, and integrating student voice into the process by including opportunities for reflection on their reading and writing progress could add depth.
Collaborating with your school literacy consultant, community experts, and the Cohort 21 network will provide you with fresh perspectives and resources, and structuring this collaboration through workshops, co-planning sessions, or regular check-ins could ensure alignment with your goals. While your project is focused on pedagogy, it’s exciting to think about how you might weave in elements of well-being, such as fostering belonging through culturally responsive texts or using reading and writing as tools for self-expression.
As you move forward, measuring the success of your work through pre- and post-assessments, as well as gathering teacher feedback, will help ensure your system is both practical and impactful. Your project aligns beautifully with the Pedagogy, Belonging, and Well-Being (JK-6) strand, and I’m excited to see how your thoughtful and collaborative efforts evolve through this journey.
Dianne, it’s great to learn a bit more about what you and Melody are collaborating on, and your hopes and dreams for your Cohort 21 time. I’m curious about the ways in which you might tie well-being into literacy programs, especially at the primary level. Looking forward to following along your journey and happy to be someone you can bounce ideas off at our next face to face!
Hi @djojic – was just posting on @mthompson ‘s post about your collaborative efforts. Tagged you there too, but I’ll echo what @jmedved has said around scoping the plan for this year, which I think will be doable during our 2nd F2F and then even potentially a good idea to review at our 3rd one! I know when I approached my action plan back in Season 3, it was really important to consider what parts fit into the plan for the immediate future vs. future years of action planning that could happen.
I also am keenly aware after reading both your post and Melody’s that I need to know more about these writing text types – I know I could Google it, but I’d rather chat with you about it when we connect next! Looking forward to seeing where your plan heads throughout the year.
@djojic
To ensure you receive personalized feedback on your Action Plan process, we invite you to post the following to your cohort blog before the 3rd face-to-face, by Monday, January 27th.
Please include the following in your blog post:
1) Your HOW MIGHT WE QUESTION…. (this should be the subject of your blog post)
2) A reflection on how your thinking evolved and shifted during the 2nd face-to-face session
3) Insights into your Action Plan and the steps you will take between now and June
4) What support you need, and what questions you still have?
5) Optional – Need further help? Click here for your AI Coach and post the conversation to your blog – https://app.flintk12.com/activity/design-thinking-9134f3/session/new