- Hi.

Hello everyone.

How are you all today?

I hope you all are doing well.

Let's go ahead and dive right on into this very exciting and timely topic of educating our early learners in early literacy.

My name is Dr. TaVshea Smith, and I will be talking to you today about early learning: a pathway to equitable literacy practices.

Just to give you a little background about myself and who and who I am, I am a South Carolina native.

I have a background in reading and math elementary interventions.

I'm an adjunct professor for beginning teachers, pre-service teachers mentoring, early literacy for pre-service teachers, and early numeracy for pre-service teachers, and overall teacher development.

I'm a travel enthusiast.

I love yoga and Pilates.

Those are my favorite ways to get moving and energized.

I'm a foodie at heart, and I love music, and binge-watching are my favorite things.

And I believe that equitable literacy for young learners is the pathway that unlocks the doors to endless possibilities.

Today's agenda, first, we'll do an icebreaker, find someone who.

Review of the objectives for today.

Setting a clear tone.

Early childhood literacy, the significance, why is it important.

Literacy for all, taking a closer look.

Early literacy and the family connection, and final thoughts.

Before we get into the objectives, take a few minutes to connect with someone virtually.

May that be through the chat box or through, if you're in the same area as someone else, take a few minutes to get to know someone.

Maybe you share the same passions, maybe from the same area, or maybe you're not from the same area and you have different passions.

Let's take a few minutes just to familiarize ourselves with some new friends.

All right, so hopefully you had a few minutes to chat, peruse the chat box or get to know some new friends, make connections and network.

That's what we do as educators.

We all come together to work together and learn together.

Let's dive into today's objectives.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to understand the importance of early literacy, emphasize the importance of equitable literacy practices that supports the needs and maximize the success of all learners.

Setting the tone.

Take a few minutes to do a think and jot.

For a think and jot, you have two options.

You can use the QR code that's on the screen, or you can use the Padlet link.

What I would like for you to do on either accessibility function, I would like for you to define and reflect on your core beliefs about literacy.

Also, I would like for you to define, compare, and contrast the terms best practices and common practices.

Feel free on the Padlet to offer as many responses as you would like.

Also, if you would like to respond to someone else, feel free to do that.

I love collaborative learning, and I would love to see your thoughts with your partners.

All right, moving right along.

Early childhood literacy: The significance.

When I think about literacy, I think about the foundation of a house.

Think about it.

When houses are made, we just don't throw the bricks up.

We just don't throw up the windows or the shingles on the roof.

We have to have a strong foundation.

And when I think about literacy, I think about the key foundational pieces that are needed in order for students to be successful.

And as teachers, parents, guardians, pre-service teachers, we have to make sure that we are equipping our young learners with those foundational skills.

Just to name a few or here on the side here, I've listed a few of the many foundational skills that our young learners need in order to be successful readers as they grow and develop in education.

Concepts of print, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, phonics, word awareness and vocabulary development, syntax influencing.

Just like this house, this picture of this house here, if I don't have these foundational skills, if students don't have these foundational skills, and if we as educators are not equipping our students with these foundational skills, the house will collapse.

However, we know as educators that we always do the best for our students.

And as parents and caregivers and families, we always want the best for our students.

With that being said, sometimes in our houses, we may have areas where they're not as developed or they need to be restructured, and that's okay.

But knowing that these foundational pieces are important parts of the house make it even more of a wonderful adventure to help our young learners to be successful readers, writers, and thinkers With that being said, I know we all are aware that there have been so much talk about the development and the science behind reading, and if you're not aware, that's okay.

That's why I'm here to just provide some insight and further information about that.

When we look at our development and students' development of reading, as I said on my previous slides, it starts with a firm foundation.

With that being said, we must look at how we are developing our young learner's brains for reading.

When we look at the four parts of the brain that are important for reading, it really connects to the alignment of foundational reading skills and what students need in order to be successful.

So as teachers, as instructional coaches, as pre-service teachers and families, we all work together to make sure we are providing students with those equitable resources and having access to a great literacy foundation.

Let's take a few minutes here to look at some of the parts of the brain that are very important for young learners' development as a literacy student, as they grow and develop throughout their early years and beyond.

We have the frontal lobe here, which helps with decision-making and planning and working memory, which is right here at the front of your brain here, and it brings attention to focus.

Travel over to the parietal lobe, which processes sensory information and visual print.

Useful for reading.

When we look at the occipital lobe, it's for visual information and print.

And the temporal lobe.

This lobe is most important for reading.

It's the part of the brain where sound is processed.

So when we look at all these very important four lobes that are in our brains, that are in students' brains, it might make you wonder, "Hmm," as students in early literacy, in early childhood continue to grow and develop, it really makes you think that students are really like sponges because they're taking in a lot of information and they're learning and growing.

And reading is at the forefront of that as we can see in the brain development of students.

The phoneme level of phonemic awareness is what has the most impact on students' reading development.

We must be able, as educators, as families, as pre-service teachers, as caregivers, do the best that we can to equip our young learners with those phonemic awareness skills.

Emergent literacy skills are critical in the early years of students' literacy development.

When we think about emergent literacy, we think about exposure to different texts, exposure to print.

All of this is equipped with our brain and how students process that information as an emergent learner and literacy student.

Foundational reading skills are essential to student' progression in reading, which includes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Taking it back to our brain picture over here, I wonder, can you think about some key areas of the foundational reading skills for progression here that may be aligned to certain parts of our four lobes in our brain that are important for reading?

I'll give you a few seconds to think about that.

Hopefully you were able to make some connections and some alignments with the foundational reading skills that could appropriately be attached and aligned to the various lobes in our brains.

Moving right along.

So when we looked at, let me go back for one second.

When we looked at our brain and the different areas in reading and print and processing, it also aligns and connects to Scarborough's Reading Rope.

This wonderful reading rope really breaks down the language comprehension and the word recognition.

We must have both in order for students to fluently read words and comprehend as they grow and develop as young learners and readers.

When we look at Scarborough's rope, it's very important to see how it is intertwined and how it is increasingly strategic to skilled reading, language comprehension.

That when we look at language comprehension, we look at background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge.

When we look at word recognition, we also looking at decoding phonological awareness, decoding sight recognition.

This is why it is increasingly important to make sure that students have the key access and they are successful in early childhood literacy development with oral language, language comprehension, emergent literacy, and intentional phonological awareness and instruction.

So it's very important that we are setting students up for success and giving them access to resources and other key literacy developments that are important to their overall oral language and language comprehension.

So as they get those foundational skills, they're able to take those foundational skills and grow as they get older as students.

And I would like to note here, at the bottom of this chart of this visual, we have the equation LC times D equals RC, meaning language comprehension times decoding, or word recognition, equals RC, fluent word recognition and comprehension.

However, I would like to note, if students don't have equitable access to these resources, or it's not provided for families.

If I don't have one, but I have the other, then students will not be as successful with reading comprehension as they get older.

It's very important to make sure that students have both access, resources, and those foundational skills in order to be successful reading comprehension students as they grow in their educational pathway and journey.

So I wanted to make note that at the bottom here, very key information.

We have to have both.

We cannot have one without the other.

Also, if one is lacking more than the other, then students will have difficulty in reading comprehension as they grow and get older.

So that's why it's very important that these skills are highlighted in our instructional practices and what we teach.

Families are provided access and resources to have that equitable playing field in literacy so that all students can get what they need in order to be successful readers.

Now let's dive in for a few minutes about literacy for all.

Can anyone wonder why I highlighted the word, or either why I even made the word all in all caps?

Hmm, I wonder what you think.

Well, let's take a deep dive into literacy for all.

On this screen, take a few seconds just to observe what you see.

So as you can see here in this visual, we have two visuals that display different things.

When you look at it, first glance, you may say, "Oh look, they look the same," but not quite.

Let's break this down just a little bit.

On the left side here, we have equality.

Everyone gets the same, regardless if it's needed or right for them.

Then we have equity.

Everyone gets what they need, understanding the barriers, circumstances, and conditions.

So with that being said, how does that tie into literacy, equitable literacy practices, and what students need versus what's the same for everyone.

So when we think about the same instruction versus what students need, meeting their needs and where they are, this we can dive right into explicit, systematic, and direct instruction on the building blocks to developing reading.

When we are developing readers, literacy students, early literacy students, instruction must be explicit, systematic, and direct.

Teachers, pre-service teachers, when we are learning about reading, we have to make sure that we are equipping learners, or we are teaching in an explicit manner.

Direct instruction, providing opportunities for whole group instruction, but also opportunities for students to work in pairs, partnerships, one-on-one, small groups, everyone is getting what they need.

Intervention supports are essential to students' literacy development in early childhood education.

It's not a one-size-fits-all, and we must meet learners where they are.

So going back to our visual here, it's very important that we are in this category where we are providing equitable literacy for everyone.

No matter the playing field or where that may be.

In our classroom, we are gonna have students from all walks of life, from all academic walks of life, from all ethnicities, backgrounds.

No matter their background, or no matter their academic background, whether they are above grade level, on grade level, or below grade level, we must make sure that we are providing equitable access to resources for learners to meet them where they are so they can be very successful in their different pathway.

Everyone has a different pathway, and that's okay.

That's what makes us unique.

But we wanna make sure, even with students' educational reading pathways, you wanna make sure that students are provided the same equitable access to resources, to instruction.

Some students learn better in whole group, some learn better in small group, and some are one-on-one.

As teachers, we wanna make sure that we are meeting the needs of all of our learners, and that will look differently for the instructional practices and instructional strategies that we use and implement in instruction.

With that being said, for intervention support, we wanna make sure that we are following the MTSS tiered supports.

Tier one talks about the core instruction.

So we always start looking at core.

How can we strengthen core for all learners?

When we look at data, if core instruction is not supported, we look at data to help us support and strengthen core instruction.

Tier two supports.

This is sometimes for learners who need modified instruction, whether that be if they are above grade level, on grade level, or below grade level.

We wanna make sure that everyone's getting differentiated instruction and we're meeting them on the level in which is appropriate for them, in which they have access to the resources that are appropriate for them and their success.

So as teachers, we wanna make sure we are doing that for our literacy students as they grow and develop with literacy.

When we look at tier three, we look at more intensive supports for students.

How are we working with other intervention service providers, families to make sure we are providing differentiated instruction, resources, modifications to meet students' needs?

Database problem-solving is key.

We must look at the data to help us tell the picture and drive the story of different instructional practices to help our learners.

Lastly, students need access to the necessary materials that will set them up for literacy success.

The growth and success of all students are essential to the future success of communities in which they will one day live and work.

Reading instruction must be comprehensive, holistic, and differentiated.

Students may have difficulty in one area and may not respond well to a particular type of instruction, and that's okay.

We as educators and families and pre-service teachers and instructional coaches must continue to incorporate instructional practices and instructional strategies that are a good fit for learners, no matter which area in literacy that they may struggle or have some challenges.

Lastly, teachers are constantly in need of adapting the best instructional practices to meet students where they are.

We have to meet students where they are.

Expectations can be set high, which is great for all students because all students can learn and all students are successful.

But we wanna make sure that we are constantly adapting to the needs of students.

That's what makes for equitable literacy practices and providing access for all students to learn and grow and thrive in their early literacy early childhood setting.

Let's take a closer look here for a few minutes.

Below, take a few minutes to click on the link to read the article.

After you have finished, click on the Jamboard link below to share your thoughts on the question provided.

So here, click on the link to read the brief article, and then jot down on the Jamboard, you can use sticky notes, you can use text if you would like, whatever works best for you to share some ideas from the article, some key takeaways, some aha moments.

Also feel free to connect with others on the Jamboard to share any aligned thinking that you may have.

Or if you may think differently about something, All answers are acceptable and everyone can feel free to share their thoughts.

Lastly, I would like to focus for a few minutes on literacy and the family connection.

I am a big component of family engagement and working as a village, as a team to help students thrive and flourish in the educational setting.

With that being said, it's so important that we understand that families are the first advocates for their kids.

We as teachers are always gonna be advocates, but families are the first advocates for their kids.

It's very important that schools, school districts, and teachers and everyone involved find that bridge for families from home to school, which is very critical to the success and the development of meeting students' unique needs.

Every family looks different.

Everyone comes from different backgrounds, upbringing, social, economic statuses.

But we must make sure that as a school community, as a district community as well, and as a school environment, teacher environment, that we are meeting the needs and bridging the gap for all families to connect and align with those early literacy skills to set every student up for success in literacy and in early childhood development.

Family engagement.

It takes me back to my days when I was family engagement coordinator for a school I worked, and it was always my favorite because it was all about bringing families together, coming in, and families were really onboard to know what can I do to help my child at home, what can I do in order for my child to be successful in the given subject.

I want to challenge all teachers, all district supports, all coaches, anyone that's here today to when we look at family engagement and communication, let's make sure that we continue to uphold those curriculum nights, those reading nights, those reading days.

But let's step outside the box and make sure we are providing those resources and those equitable accesses for all learners, for all families, and to meet families' needs and what they need and what they think is best for their students and for their learners.

Linguistically gifted.

I wanna take a few minutes to think about our learners who are ELLs, English language learners, that may come to our schools from different countries, different backgrounds and their families as well.

I know that we all want to do what's best for learners, and we want them to adapt to the English practices that we have here.

However, I want us to view this a little bit differently when we look at literacy and other subject areas of support as well.

Before students can tap into English and other levels as a multi-language or early language learner, let's celebrate students that are early language learners, and let's tap into what they are capable of in their native language, but also let's tie that into as they continue to learn and grow as an English learner.

So I really wanna challenge everyone to really tap into our ELL learners and provide them with the equitable supports as well.

And don't look at their language as a deficit, but look at it as a celebration, and to highlight, and to make alignment with their language and the English language to drive that further.

Equitable literacy access and support.

And then when we look at the early literacy continuum, we look at the development and the structure of higher early literacy are the building blocks to education and literacy as students develop and grow in early childhood and the continued reading pathway.

Just a few final thoughts here for you on today, which I really enjoyed talking about this topic because it really is at the center of my heart of when I am working with other teachers, working with pre-service teachers, and collaborating with stakeholders.

Foundational reading skills are essential to the development of early learners.

The brain plays a vital role in literacy skills.

Students constantly need literacy at their fingertips.

The secret to literacy success is constantly improving your practice and adjusting to meet students' needs and meet them where they are.

And lastly, it's all about setting all kids up for success.

I'm all about team kids first, and I know you are too.

Thank you so much for diving into this very important topic with me on today.

Before you leave, please scan this QR code to provide me with feedback on today's presentation.

I would love to stay connected with you.

Here are my platforms in which I am available and ready to network and collaborate and to talk about all things literacy and equitable access and practices.

Here's my email, here's my Twitter, and here's my LinkedIn name as well.

Thank you all for your time on today.