About 30 teachers from around the East Greenbush Central School District participated in a two-day professional development training last week to improve reading instruction. The teachers learned about Really Great Reading, a program that provides a comprehensive set of instructional tools to help teachers diagnose, group and teach students with weaknesses in their foundational skills.
The Really Great Reading approach to reading instruction is innovative and explicit in that students are engaged and actively participating throughout the duration of each lesson. Students will have the opportunity to actively explore learning through hands-on materials and online tools.
“Our presenter, Scott, was extremely knowledgeable and led a very informative, engaging and comprehensive training,” said Genna DiSotto and Nicoll Driscoll, co-chairs of the K-5 Reading Department. “We left the two days of training feeling excited and eager to teach our students phonics concepts and skills using this new way to deliver instruction.”
This initiative is a result of the work being done by the district’s Academic Intervention Services (AIS) team which is currently engaged in a five-year program review.
“We feel encouraged and confident that with this new program, our students will be getting more systematic phonics instruction from our AIS staff which will help them become successful readers!” said Mrs. DiSotto and Mrs. Driscoll. “With this new program, the Reading Department feels rejuvenated and very enthusiastic to begin utilizing it once we return to school in the fall!”