March 12, 2024 • 36 mins
Director of Elementary Education Laura Steabner joins Coffee Cast and talks about all things literacy, including transformative changes throughout the nation in philosophy and pedagogy, and LETRS, the professional development program recently adopted by St. Cloud Area School District that focuses on the science of reading. This episode also celebrates the parent and community’s role in a child’s reading life through programs like PAKRAT and One District One Book. Join us for an enlightening conversation that promises to spark a revolution in the way we approach literacy, both in the classroom and at home.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The 742CoffeeCast is your ultimate destination for
insightful conversations,thought-provoking ideas and
innovative strategies in StCloud Area School District.
Your host is Director ofCommunity Engagement and
Communications, tammy Dilan.
Grab a cup of coffee and joinus.
Welcome to CoffeeCast.
(00:26):
Today.
Our guest is Laura Stevner,director of Elementary Education
for St Cloud Area Schools.
Thank you for being here.
Thanks for having me, tammy,and we are so glad you're here.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, your background, how
long you've been with District742.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Sure, I have been in District 742 for 10 years and I
started as an elementaryclassroom teacher in a different
district and I taught primarilyfifth grade, loved working with
older kids, but I was a personwho needed a change every couple
of years, and so I had a funnyexperience where I was getting
(01:05):
my master's degree and myteacher was a retired person in
my district who was planning anew gifted ed program and
through my master's I spent alot of time thinking about
differentiation, meeting theneeds of all kinds of kids, and
she said to me you should teachthis gifted ed thing I'm working
on.
And I said no, thank you.
And then my principal said youshould teach this gifted ed
(01:26):
thing that we're working on.
And then I started to thinkmore about that and so I
transitioned into teachinggifted education and I did that
for about four years and cameover to District 742 because
they had an opening for a giftedcoordinator and my son was a
kindergartner here.
So I was really excited to jointhe 742 team, be part of the
same community as my kids, andthen I did that for a while and
(01:50):
took on more responsibilities.
But at one point I had said tomy supervisor you know, if there
was ever a gig that was justfocused on just elementary, that
would be my jam, and so thatactually came to fruition, and
so I've been doing this role.
I think this is my fourth yearas director of elementary
curriculum or elementaryeducation.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We're so lucky to have you.
You actually started thattalent development program here.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I did For the district I did.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, and just, do you want to talk about that just
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Sure yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
How it's different than gifted and talented.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, so here in District 742 we call it talent
development and acceleratedservices programming, and when I
came in, we really didn't haveconsistent programming
throughout the district, and soI got to build something from
the ground up, which is always asuper fun experience.
Really.
To just come in and have ablank canvas is.
You can't ask for anythingbetter than that.
I spent a lot of time learningthe community of learners and
(02:46):
the diverse needs, and thenspent a lot of time in other
districts who had similarcommunities, and we really take
an approach that we want toensure students have access to
programming when they are highachieving and also when they
have high potential, and so thatreally means kids who have
indicators of giftedness butmaybe aren't achieving at high
(03:07):
levels also receive servicethrough our young scholars
program at the elementary, andso it's different from some
districts where you really haveto prove or have that test score
as an entry point.
We use test scores as we lookat students, but we also do this
responding to instruction.
We give kids access to giftedinstruction and see what happens
(03:27):
, and kids who demonstrate highpotential are able to access
service.
So it's a pretty cool, uniqueprogram that responds in a lot
of ways.
That's what I was going to say.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
It makes us very, very unique in in the approach
for that kind of programming.
So thank you for that.
But now you have yourdirector's hat on, and today I
am personally very excited to betalking about a subject that
you and I both love, which isliteracy reading books, right.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
All the things.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So I hardly know where to begin, but I think
maybe the best place to start isto talk about what's going on
in general with literacy,because it's not just us right,
that is correct.
Big things are happening withliteracy all across the street,
all across the country.
Do you want to talk about thebig picture?
(04:19):
To get us started?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I will do my very best to recap everything
literacy.
So I think we're all start is atthe national level, which maybe
feels big, but we'll startthere and we'll kind of zoom in.
So at the national level, we'vegot data across the United
States of America that studentsare struggling to learn to read.
Our fourth grade proficiencyrates are not great and they've
been really stagnant for a verylong time.
(04:43):
So what that tells us is theapproach we're taking to
teaching students how to readisn't really working for a good
chunk of our students, and thatdoesn't necessarily matter where
those students live.
We see the same predictableresults over and over and over
again, and Minnesota is nodifferent.
Minnesota has very similar datato what we see at the national
(05:04):
level and actually one of thethings that's a really good
visual that I've seen a coupleof times is when you look at the
amount of kids in Minnesota infourth grade who aren't reading
at grade level.
It's enough kids to fill USBank Stadium seven and a half
times.
So that visual, really that'sprofound.
You think about faces and youthink about, if you've been to
(05:25):
that stadium, what it feels likejust to have one stadium full
of people and we're reallytalking about so, so many
students and so within the lastfew years there's been a few
things that have happened thathave sort of made people sit up
and take notice, and one ofthose things happened in
Mississippi.
So Mississippi actually was theonly state who showed statewide
(05:47):
reading growth, and that wassomething that people just sort
of put their heads on a swiveland said what happened there?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I was just, if I may interject, the first time I
heard you talk about this.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I literally said Mississippi right, because it's
not something that we typicallythink of as a leader in literacy
.
And so what Mississippi did isthey took an approach that was
statewide.
They said we need to changethings, and we're gonna do that
through some statewide work.
We're gonna ensure all of ourteachers are trained in the very
(06:21):
best, most effective andefficient strategies for
teaching kids to read.
We're gonna bring in coaches.
We're gonna ensure ourcurriculum aligns, and so other
states have really followed suit, and Minnesota has followed
suit as well with the passing ofthe Historic Read Act, which is
reading to ensure academicdevelopment, and that is
legislation that now is reallyresponding to.
(06:44):
Minnesota also needs to takesome pretty significant steps to
make sure that students whoexit our school systems are
reading proficiently, and so,like Mississippi, the state is
moving toward training teachersin evidence-based, effective,
efficient strategies, and Ithink what I'll say about that
is that there are lots of waysto teach kids to read.
(07:05):
Adults, listening to the podcasttoday, some of them will say I
have no idea, it just happened,and that's true.
That's actually true for acertain percentage of people
that the instruction doesn'tnecessarily matter as long as
they're given some instruction.
There's a small percentage maybe20% of people or so that will
kind of just pick up reading.
(07:26):
But for most people they needdirect, explicit instruction in
how to pull words off the pageand then how to understand
vocabulary and language, andthat when we take an approach
that leans into that method, wejust have such a higher chance
of ensuring everybody has whatthey need to be successful,
(07:48):
because that percentage of thepopulation that will pick it up
is only going to be helped bythis approach.
And so the read act really saysteachers need to know, they
need to know the effective,efficient strategies, schools
need to be using curriculumsthat are aligned with those
strategies and that we need tobe assessing students.
We need to be ensuring thateach year that they're in school
(08:08):
we're checking to see who's ongrade level, who's not, and if
they're not on grade level, thatwe're responding to their needs
.
So the read acts bigger thanthat, but those are the big
points and so that's kind ofwhat's going on the national and
state level and then that feedsinto districts as we work to
implement this legislation.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And what you're describing right now is what's
known as the science of reading,isn't it?
That's kind of the buzz phrasethat we hear and read everywhere
.
Can you, without like, divingso deeply that we get lost?
But can you talk about how thescience of reading is different
(08:49):
than what we've already beendoing?
I'm imagining that there areparents listening to the podcast
today that are what you know.
Or, conversely, there arepeople like English majors, like
me, who say science of reading.
That's really scary, becauseEnglish majors and scientists
(09:11):
they don't usually partytogether, right?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, what's different?
What's different is it'spulling together lots of fields
of research that have to do withthe processes the brain employs
when it learns to read.
One thing that's reallyinteresting that was new
learning for me was that thebrain, the human brain, is not
(09:37):
hardwired to read or hardwiredto speak right.
So if you take a student or achild and you put them in an
environment, you don't have todo any explicit instruction on
how to speak.
You expose them to speech.
Kids pick it up.
It's a natural process.
You don't need instruction.
Reading is not this.
Reading involves visualprocessing, working memory.
(09:58):
It involves making sounds,hearing sounds, connecting words
to meaning, understandingcontext, understanding all these
nuanced pieces that our braindoes learn how to do this in
just lightning speed, right.
So what the science of readingis doing is it saying okay, the
(10:20):
cognitive science teaches usthis and visual processing
teaches us this, and all ofthese components more and more
come together to help usunderstand how all of this works
together to develop a reader.
And what the science of readingis is really the collection of
work that explains how the brainlearns to read.
What it tells us is there's twobig things that people have to
(10:43):
do to learn to read.
So this is called the simpleview of reading Tammy.
So this should be just perfectfor your simple explanation.
So the simple view of readingsays if you wanna be able to
comprehend or understand whatyou read, you have to do have
two things.
One, you have to literally beable to read the words on the
page, right, you have to be ableto decode those words,
(11:03):
understand what the letters onthe page make when they become a
word, and then you have tounderstand what those words mean
.
That's called languagecomprehension.
So I literally know that wordor I can understand that
sentence, and when you have bothof those things working, you
have reading comprehension.
But for students who maybestruggle with lifting words off
(11:24):
the page, maybe have some skillsin that area but have to spend
a lot of energy sounding outwords because it's not
necessarily automatic, it's hardto comprehend reading.
Lots of energy is going intosounding out words and by the
time I've sounded out that wordI maybe have forgotten what the
beginning of the sentence was.
And so part of theevidence-based practices is
(11:45):
really ensuring students havethat skill automatic.
That takes years.
Right by the end of third gradekids are really automatic with
sounding out words and beingable to lift words off the page,
and then from there it'svocabulary and background
knowledge that's really the key.
I've heard once that you'llnever understand a word in print
that you don't understand inspeech, and so sometimes we can
(12:08):
pull context and help us, butthat really struck with me too.
So the more that students areexposed to words, are spoken to,
are read to, the more wordsthat they understand and the
higher the chances that whenthey come across that word in
print, they'll be able tounderstand the meaning.
So when those two things combine, we understand what we read.
So that's really the simpleview of science of reading, if
(12:32):
you will.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
That's no that's really helpful and I think that,
again, for listeners this isbeing talked about so often
Having a good explanation ofwhat it is is really especially
for parents is really powerful.
So we talked national, wetalked state.
What exactly is happening inDistrict 742?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yes, we are well on our way in elementary and in
secondary as well, butelementary is my area of
expertise, and so we've startedtraining our kindergarten
through fifth grade teachers, aswell as some special education
staff, our EL staff, our mediaspecialists, our talent
development staff, which wetalked about earlier really
anyone who's helping to supportstudents in reading in a program
(13:16):
called Letters, which standsfor Language Essentials for
Teachers of Reading and Spellingand this is a really in-depth
training and it has teachersreading manuals, watching online
models, watching model lessons,really applying their knowledge
, thinking about their students,and it's intense and it's deep,
but it really helps teachersunderstand.
(13:38):
First that brain science howdoes the brain learn to read and
then, for each of the criticalparts of teaching reading, the
most effective ways to do that,what are the ways that are
proven to work for the most kidsand what are the things that we
can do in our classroom when wethink about how we allocate
time or what activities we havestudents engaging in that are
(13:59):
most likely to produce readers.
This is an eight-unit trainingand we'll be through two units
this year, and so it really is amulti-year endeavor, and it's
not just the learning, it's alsothe application.
So we are working on theimplementation of our new
learning.
After we have that chunk oflearning, we engage in a unit.
Then we move those practicesinto the classroom.
(14:20):
So that's what's happening atelementary right now to help our
teachers have that skill set.
Because I will say and I've saidthis many times from my own
experience coming in I did notknow the things that I'm
learning now.
So I'm going through thetraining myself and there are
many, many things that I wasn'tgiven the opportunity to learn
(14:41):
when I started my teachingcareer, and so I did have many
situations where, as a fifthgrade teacher, I had students
who were struggling to read,were struggling to understand
what they were reading, and Ididn't really know why and I
didn't really know what to do.
And so a lot of times I justkept looking for the right book,
like if I just find the rightbook, it's going to turn, it's
(15:02):
going to click.
You know, and we've all seenkids where it clicks, and I
think that sometimes gives afalse sense of hope or a false
sense of security for aneducator, because you've seen
that work.
We can all name instances wherethat's worked, but that isn't
the best or most efficient wayto teach reading, and so, while
I was trying to find the rightbook, I wasn't employing any
(15:26):
strategies that really wouldhave been helpful, and so I know
from personal experience thatthis is a game changer.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You really expect outcomes to change.
I really do.
As a result of letters, this is, this is very big picture and
and huge goals and and youpointed to Mississippi and there
are others that you've seen theoutcomes.
So it is exciting.
It is I.
(15:52):
When you say it's a gamechanger, I believe you.
It's really exciting.
What about teachers of reading?
I've been a teacher of readingfor 25 years.
How has this been for them tomake a kind of seismic shift in
how we go about things?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
You know that really hard it can be.
There can be a lot of feelings,and I know personally, I
experienced that myself.
So when, when teachers comeinto a classroom, right, they're
given a curriculum to teach,they're given their standards
from the state level that theyneed to teach, they have their
teacher training that they bringwith them.
But oftentimes you're reallyrelying on experts outside of
(16:33):
your classroom or maybe yourdistrict to say what's the best
approach to take.
And so for a lot of years,there were some really popular
curriculums and methods ofteaching literacy that really
leaned into more intuition andwhat feels right than what's
(16:53):
proven to work.
A lot of these programs had alot of appeal to teachers
because it's the kind of thingthat you would create with a
whole room full of proficientreaders.
So giving kids lots of accessto texts and giving kids lots of
comfy spaces to read and givingkids lots of opportunities for
(17:14):
their own choice, which soundsnice, right For you and I who
are proficient readers, we wouldlove to go into a beautiful
space yes, beautiful space withlots of books and make our own
choices about how to read andhave really great conversations
about what we're reading, butthat's really not a way to teach
(17:35):
a student to read.
That's an outcome of beingliterate, and so for a long time
, all across the nation, thatwas a very popular approach.
It was called Readers Workshop,and teachers really loved it in
some ways, but a lot of themwere questioning it as well,
like is this really helping mykids who are struggling?
(17:58):
Am I doing enough?
And then practice has sort ofshifted to bring back more of
the evidence based practices.
But the biggest thing that's soimportant is that the
instruction is explicit anddirect and systematic.
It's too important to have it besort of off the cuff or not
(18:19):
planned, and so when we'rethinking about how students
learn their letters, theirsounds, how to blend letters
together, how to spell trickyspelling patterns, we really
have to be well planned out.
We have to know exactly whatkids are getting in kindergarten
, to build on that in firstgrade, to ensure there aren't
gaps when we go into secondgrade, and that is something
(18:41):
that really, from my perspective, has been missing so oftentimes
.
Teachers would have access tolessons that do align with the
science of reading, but therewasn't that very prescriptive
scope, sequence order thatthings need to be taught, and
then there was teachers who tookone approach and teachers who
(19:02):
took another approach and thenthose kids all go into the next
grade level and the next gradelevel and so making sure that
we're really thoughtful in ourapproach is really important.
So for teachers who are kind ofgrappling with this, there can
be this sense of guilt a littlebit.
Had I known this, I could havedone a better job with former
(19:23):
students and we know the kidswere being left behind, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So yes, yeah it does hurt.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I hear lots of teachers say that if I had had
this knowledge when I wasstarting out, I would have done
such a better job, or I feel soguilty because I wasn't giving
kids what I now know.
And I just try to say when weknow better, we do better.
Right, and it wasn't anisolated thing.
It was across our country andin other countries as well,
where this was a very commonapproach and kids were impacted
(19:51):
in a pretty systematic way.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
What about from a parent's point of view?
Do I change what I do at homenow, or am I?
In my household, we just readbooks From the time we were
babies, we had books everywhereand it was just right a culture
(20:14):
of what we did.
So if I'm a parent nowlistening to the podcast today,
do I need to change something?
Do I just keep reading to mychildren, or is something
different for me too?
I?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
think honestly, prioritizing reading and
speaking are the best thingsthat parents can do.
So you remember I said there'stwo components.
There's the ability to pull thewords off the page, and parents
can work on that.
They can definitely help kidssound out words, they can point
out words, they can draw theirkids' attention to letters and
(20:49):
sounds.
But there is a prettysystematic, explicit way to do
that part and schools actuallyare really good at that part.
But the language and the wordsare so critical.
I cannot emphasize enough howimportant it is for families to
read to their kids and to talkto their kids, and there's
(21:10):
really very clear outcomes.
You can look at how many wordsa student knows when they come
into kindergarten and you canlook at their reading
comprehension in third grade,and there's a direct correlation
.
The thing that I have recentlyspent a lot of time learning
about is something calledconversational turns, and so
this is really the idea thatwhen we speak to children, we're
(21:32):
expecting them to speak back tous and we can help increase
their language by taking theirresponses and elaborating.
So I could maybe do somemodeling for you.
Oh, please do.
So we're, going to do a littleexperiment.
So, if your parents listening,I'm going to model three things
(21:52):
for you that could happen in thegrocery store and I'm going to
just say we've all been, allthree of these parents, I'm just
saying, because it depends onthe day and it depends on the
time that you have available.
So I want you to imagine maybe athree, four-year-old in the
shopping cart and you're pushingthe shopping cart along and the
kiddo picks up an avocado.
So in the first scenario aparent might say put that back,
(22:16):
we don't have time for that.
Why are you picking up anavocado?
We have to get your brotherfrom practice.
In that scenario, parent isspeaking but the student isn't
or the child isn't engaged inany sort of conversation and the
words that the child's hearingare pretty basic words that
they've heard before.
Put that back, we have to go.
Maybe avocado, Maybe avocado.
That might be a new one, but ingeneral it's not a lot of
(22:39):
exposure to new, interesting,sophisticated language.
In the second scenario, we havethe same parent.
The avocado gets picked up andthe parent might say what do you
have there?
Let's put that back and thechild might ask a question.
But there's a little bit of anexchange here where the parent
is saying do you know what thatis?
Child might say no, that's anavocado.
(23:01):
Have you had that before?
No, but it's maybe more one ortwo word answers where the
child's responding to the parentbut they're not really asking
to produce a whole lot oflanguage and there isn't a lot
that you can grab on to andextend.
But, as a parent, if you can dosomething like this, you're
holding an avocado.
What do you notice about theavocado?
(23:23):
It's green.
It is green and it's kind of adark green, isn't it?
Yes, you know we might callthat forest green.
Can you say that Forest green?
What else do you know that'sforest green?
And do you know what I see onthis avocado?
It says organic.
Have you ever heard that wordbefore?
Now it might feel weird to havethis much of a conversation
(23:44):
with your child and, truthfully,it could get tiring to do this
all the time.
But any opportunity we have todo the conversational turns
actually leads to higherintelligence levels and
increased IQs for students.
So it's imperative that parentsunderstand their role in giving
kids access to language is soimportant.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
And you actually do that too, and you actually did
several things there.
So vocabulary, because you'venow not just talked about
avocado, but you've introducedorganic.
Do you have you heard that wordbefore?
So that's an opportunity.
But also you've entered intofigurative language.
Some people call this forestgreen.
Why would that be?
(24:27):
I mean, just that short exampleis perfect to show the layering
and the richness of language.
It's really quite fascinating.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
And do you know what Words are free?
They're accessible all the time.
You don't have to buy somethingfancy, you don't need an app,
you don't.
You just need those words.
And then reading the bookelement of it is so critical
because actually the languagethat's used in children's books
is really sophisticated.
(25:01):
Kids have a way higher chanceof hearing unusual, interesting,
complex words from listening toa children's book.
That's way higher than watchingeven educational programming.
So for students who areengaging in screen time, they're
maybe learning.
There's great resources outthere that help students learn
(25:23):
on a screen.
But as far as language andhearing new words and being able
to engage with those words andthat back and forth reading
offers a great way to do that.
Because as a parent you're alsogoing through your day to day
and it's not always at the ready.
What sophisticated word can Ipull out of this grocery store
exchange With sitting andreading a book and then having
(25:44):
that in your mind like, oh, thisis a word that my child
probably doesn't know.
Let's talk about this word.
Let's have my child pronouncethis word.
Let's see if I can bring thisword up again sometime later
today.
Let's see if we can reread thebook tomorrow and see if the
child remembers the word andmaybe even can try to use the
word themselves.
So that is a great way toreally create the space for
(26:09):
those conversations and thatadditional vocabulary exposure.
And it's fun, it's so fun andit's connecting.
Just a kid in your lap right.
There's nothing beats that in agood book.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Nope and a rocking chair.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
All right.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well, we create all kinds of other opportunities in
district.
To you mention parents and theimportance of parents and
children reading together.
Talk about.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
PACRAD.
Yeah, pacrad is a great programthat really leans into the fact
that life is busy.
It's sometimes tricky to saywhat's that new book we're going
to pull off the shelf or can weget to the library or we're
tired of reading all the booksthat we have.
There's all those pieces thatjust can get in the way can be
(26:57):
obstacles, and PACRAD is reallyjust meant to create an easy way
for families to engage inreading, so families are able to
get.
You know the plastic bag.
It's got a book in it, it's gota few things that the family
can do together and it's rightin the kids backpack and it's
something that's switched out.
The books are curated to behigh interest, age appropriate,
(27:17):
have exciting vocabulary, and sofor families it's just one of
those win-wins.
It's right there for you.
All you got to do is pull thatout, find that spot where you're
going to engage in that booktogether and then, through the
summer, visit the PACRAD.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah, yeah, it's going to say in the summer
there's a box.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And it comes to you.
It comes to you, it comes rightinto our neighborhoods and,
being a person who lived in arural area, I went to the
bookmobile, which was the samesort of idea, same and I loved
it.
I loved just getting on the busand picking out a book.
And that's really what thePACRAD bus is all about Just
taking away those obstacles ofdaily life that can get in the
(27:55):
way and saying this beautifulbus full of books is literally
right outside your door.
Come and get books to read andbring them back.
So when the bus comes back, getnew ones and just focus on that
literacy piece.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It raises the level of engagement and excitement.
It's here, it's here, yes, forsure.
Almost as good as ice cream.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Almost.
There's not a.
I don't think it has that music.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Maybe we should get that going.
And also we're in the midst ofOne District, One Book, which
has been a tradition in ourdistrict for some time now.
Talk about that.
That's another opportunity.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's a great opportunity and we're so
grateful for our partnershipwith Shields on this one where
we have our whole elementaryread the same book, and so this
year we're reading Humphrey,which we read 10 years ago,
which was the book my son read.
Actually, when I, before I cameto 742, he was in kindergarten
and he read this book.
So it's been fun for my heartto go back to the Humphrey book.
(28:55):
But it is just a greatopportunity where every family
in elementary receives a bookand there is a reading schedule.
The families can read the book.
There's also really greatsupports for families.
So there's the chapters are readaloud.
So families who maybe are inthe car a lot or on the go or in
a tight schedule where you'rethinking, oh, I got to cook
dinner, but we're going tolisten to the chapter as well.
(29:17):
So we've got that built inplace.
And then each day at ourschools there's trivia questions
from the night before, so thekids who were able to read the
book with their families areable to engage in those trivia
questions.
And many of our elementary'sreally just go all out with
decking out their libraries andhaving family engagement nights
centered around the topic of thebook and it's just a lot of fun
(29:38):
.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I had the privilege of going out to Kennedy and
their media center is completelyeverything about.
One district, one book.
I mean they have a child sizehamster tunnels.
They have remember those Zuzupets.
Oh, yes, they have a wholetable set up with Zuzu pets, my
(29:59):
personal favorite was the yearwe read Mr Popper's penguins.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Oh Kil had live penguins that came from Hemker
Zoo at their family night.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Are you kidding?
I don't remember that.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And that's what literacy does, right.
It just opens up these things,that how often are you thinking
about hamsters or penguins orwhatever it is?
And it opens up this wholeworld of connections, vocabulary
, experiences, fun.
It's just a great thing allaround.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
And I want to come full circle on that too, because
you named Shields, who sponsorsone district, one book, such a
great, great partnership there.
You just mentioned Hemker Zooand Pat Gray has been supported
by LEAF, our local educationfoundation, since its inception.
We talked about teachers, wetalked about parents, but
(30:47):
honestly, d numerator D,numerator Three, okay Two, this
idea of bringing children, ofliteracy and embracing children
and bringing them along into theworld where they need to be,
that's all of us.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
That is.
That is that's community, andso much of it happens before
students even get to us.
So the amount of braindevelopment that's happening in
that birth to five, and theamount of words that a child
hears and uses, it's a big, bigdeal, and so we absolutely
recognize that schools have abig responsibility to teach
(31:19):
reading.
But, as a community, everythingthat we can do to increase
these opportunities for literacyand reading and speaking are so
important because it justbenefits our kids in such an
amazing way and it's somethingwe can all be part of.
Everyone in the community cansupport literacy, think and now
you're making something else.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Come forward.
Think of our volunteers, of ourgrandpa Johns and the people
who come into our schools andread.
We have high school athleteswho come into the elementary and
read.
It is.
It is about connection and alsoit's about joy.
This is an opportunity not justfor learning but to absolutely
(32:00):
kind of rejoice.
Sorry, english major here but,to rejoice in language and story
.
Yes, it's pretty beautiful.
Can you tell I'm?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
really excited you came here today.
I can tell that you're reallyexcited because, like, what's
better than literacy?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I don't need nothing.
What's better than books?
It just I can't think of it.
Okay, now I'm going to put youon the spot.
You ready?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Favorite childhood book of yours that I read myself
.
Yes, I was really into thebabysitters club, which is not
high brow literature, but I bet.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You read a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I read a lot of them but I think my favorite probably
elementary school book that Iwas exposed to by a teacher was
the classic hatchet.
It really pulled me in.
I was not an outdoorsy girlback in fifth grade but I can
remember so clearly just waitingto hear what was going to
(32:56):
happen and being completelysucked in to that story.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh, that's.
I remember that book well too.
Yeah, I taught for 15 yearsactually in this district at the
alternative school and hatcheteven then was still a huge crowd
favorite.
Okay, now favorite childhoodbook that you read to your kids.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Oh, this was easy.
So I read the Harry Potterseries to my kids and actually
when I was getting my teachinglicense, I had to read the first
Harry Potter.
So this is a little bit of afun story.
I loved it.
I was so sucked in and I willtell you now that, like having
reread them many times, thefirst one is not as exciting to
(33:39):
me as many of the subsequentbooks.
I remember taking this bookwith me to my job, because I had
a job where I was behind acounter and I could get some
homework done.
And then I got so sucked intoit.
I vividly remember having it onthe passenger seat and then
pulling it to read at stoplights, which is not safe.
You should not do this I was sosucked into it and so I could.
(34:01):
I can remember then I'm the agewhere I was an adult when the
books were coming out the laterbooks and so I would be buying
it the first day at Barnes andNoble and staying up all night
to read the books and havingkids and literally thinking I
cannot wait to read the seriesto my kids.
So we read the whole seriestogether and did the whole read
aloud piece and some of thetwists and turns that you know
(34:24):
are coming.
We're just delightful to watchmy kids expressions and faces
when some of these secrets getrevealed.
So I loved every single minuteof reading those hundreds and
hundreds of pages.
Oh, yes, it's not a, it's not asmall commitment.
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
But fun.
I have two daughters and we hada favorite remember reading
Rainbow.
We had a favorite readingRainbow book called Just Us
Women.
Oh, it's so wonderful and Ijust looked it up, it's still in
print and we absolutely lovethat book and read it all the
(35:01):
time.
Very slim, little volume butit's about an auntie who takes
her niece on a road trip andit's Just Us Women no boys and
no men allowed.
And my daughters were like allabout it.
This was like this concept, I'mtrying to think.
We always talked about it andthey picked, they packed a
(35:21):
picnic, she had a convertibleand and that's a title that I'll
never forget.
It's the experience, it's theconnection.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
It's profound right.
I can remember reading Rainbowthe Capiti plane.
Do you remember that one?
No, it was about the.
There's a line in it and Idon't know if it was just the
cadence of the speech, but ittalked about this these cows
being so skinny and dry, theymoved from their.
They moved for the rain to fallfrom the sky.
Oh my God, it's a folk tale Likethis boy has to shoot an arrow
(35:50):
into the cloud and then itfinally rains.
But I can remember just vividlyas a child reading Rainbow
books.
Really, you know they stickwith you.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
They do.
There's a magic.
There's no denying there's amagic.
Oh, thank you so much forcoming and talking to us today
about literacy.
It's really, it's my pleasure.
We appreciate you, thank you.
Do you have a great podcastidea?
Submit your idea tocommunications at ISD742.org.
(36:19):
And thank you for listening to742 Coffee Cast, the best place
to stay informed and be inspiredby St Cloud Area School
District.
The 742CoffeeCast is your ultimate destination for
insightful conversations,thought-provoking ideas and
innovative strategies in StCloud Area School District.
Your host is Director ofCommunity Engagement and
Communications, tammy Dilan.
Grab a cup of coffee and joinus.
Welcome to CoffeeCast.
(00:26):
Today.
Our guest is Laura Stevner,director of Elementary Education
for St Cloud Area Schools.
Thank you for being here.
Thanks for having me, tammy,and we are so glad you're here.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, your background, how
long you've been with District742.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Sure, I have been in District 742 for 10 years and I
started as an elementaryclassroom teacher in a different
district and I taught primarilyfifth grade, loved working with
older kids, but I was a personwho needed a change every couple
of years, and so I had a funnyexperience where I was getting
(01:05):
my master's degree and myteacher was a retired person in
my district who was planning anew gifted ed program and
through my master's I spent alot of time thinking about
differentiation, meeting theneeds of all kinds of kids, and
she said to me you should teachthis gifted ed thing I'm working
on.
And I said no, thank you.
And then my principal said youshould teach this gifted ed
(01:26):
thing that we're working on.
And then I started to thinkmore about that and so I
transitioned into teachinggifted education and I did that
for about four years and cameover to District 742 because
they had an opening for a giftedcoordinator and my son was a
kindergartner here.
So I was really excited to jointhe 742 team, be part of the
same community as my kids, andthen I did that for a while and
(01:50):
took on more responsibilities.
But at one point I had said tomy supervisor you know, if there
was ever a gig that was justfocused on just elementary, that
would be my jam, and so thatactually came to fruition, and
so I've been doing this role.
I think this is my fourth yearas director of elementary
curriculum or elementaryeducation.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We're so lucky to have you.
You actually started thattalent development program here.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I did For the district I did.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, and just, do you want to talk about that just
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Sure yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
How it's different than gifted and talented.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, so here in District 742 we call it talent
development and acceleratedservices programming, and when I
came in, we really didn't haveconsistent programming
throughout the district, and soI got to build something from
the ground up, which is always asuper fun experience.
Really.
To just come in and have ablank canvas is.
You can't ask for anythingbetter than that.
I spent a lot of time learningthe community of learners and
(02:46):
the diverse needs, and thenspent a lot of time in other
districts who had similarcommunities, and we really take
an approach that we want toensure students have access to
programming when they are highachieving and also when they
have high potential, and so thatreally means kids who have
indicators of giftedness butmaybe aren't achieving at high
(03:07):
levels also receive servicethrough our young scholars
program at the elementary, andso it's different from some
districts where you really haveto prove or have that test score
as an entry point.
We use test scores as we lookat students, but we also do this
responding to instruction.
We give kids access to giftedinstruction and see what happens
(03:27):
, and kids who demonstrate highpotential are able to access
service.
So it's a pretty cool, uniqueprogram that responds in a lot
of ways.
That's what I was going to say.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
It makes us very, very unique in in the approach
for that kind of programming.
So thank you for that.
But now you have yourdirector's hat on, and today I
am personally very excited to betalking about a subject that
you and I both love, which isliteracy reading books, right.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
All the things.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So I hardly know where to begin, but I think
maybe the best place to start isto talk about what's going on
in general with literacy,because it's not just us right,
that is correct.
Big things are happening withliteracy all across the street,
all across the country.
Do you want to talk about thebig picture?
(04:19):
To get us started?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I will do my very best to recap everything
literacy.
So I think we're all start is atthe national level, which maybe
feels big, but we'll startthere and we'll kind of zoom in.
So at the national level, we'vegot data across the United
States of America that studentsare struggling to learn to read.
Our fourth grade proficiencyrates are not great and they've
been really stagnant for a verylong time.
(04:43):
So what that tells us is theapproach we're taking to
teaching students how to readisn't really working for a good
chunk of our students, and thatdoesn't necessarily matter where
those students live.
We see the same predictableresults over and over and over
again, and Minnesota is nodifferent.
Minnesota has very similar datato what we see at the national
(05:04):
level and actually one of thethings that's a really good
visual that I've seen a coupleof times is when you look at the
amount of kids in Minnesota infourth grade who aren't reading
at grade level.
It's enough kids to fill USBank Stadium seven and a half
times.
So that visual, really that'sprofound.
You think about faces and youthink about, if you've been to
(05:25):
that stadium, what it feels likejust to have one stadium full
of people and we're reallytalking about so, so many
students and so within the lastfew years there's been a few
things that have happened thathave sort of made people sit up
and take notice, and one ofthose things happened in
Mississippi.
So Mississippi actually was theonly state who showed statewide
(05:47):
reading growth, and that wassomething that people just sort
of put their heads on a swiveland said what happened there?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I was just, if I may interject, the first time I
heard you talk about this.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I literally said Mississippi right, because it's
not something that we typicallythink of as a leader in literacy
.
And so what Mississippi did isthey took an approach that was
statewide.
They said we need to changethings, and we're gonna do that
through some statewide work.
We're gonna ensure all of ourteachers are trained in the very
(06:21):
best, most effective andefficient strategies for
teaching kids to read.
We're gonna bring in coaches.
We're gonna ensure ourcurriculum aligns, and so other
states have really followed suit, and Minnesota has followed
suit as well with the passing ofthe Historic Read Act, which is
reading to ensure academicdevelopment, and that is
legislation that now is reallyresponding to.
(06:44):
Minnesota also needs to takesome pretty significant steps to
make sure that students whoexit our school systems are
reading proficiently, and so,like Mississippi, the state is
moving toward training teachersin evidence-based, effective,
efficient strategies, and Ithink what I'll say about that
is that there are lots of waysto teach kids to read.
(07:05):
Adults, listening to the podcasttoday, some of them will say I
have no idea, it just happened,and that's true.
That's actually true for acertain percentage of people
that the instruction doesn'tnecessarily matter as long as
they're given some instruction.
There's a small percentage maybe20% of people or so that will
kind of just pick up reading.
(07:26):
But for most people they needdirect, explicit instruction in
how to pull words off the pageand then how to understand
vocabulary and language, andthat when we take an approach
that leans into that method, wejust have such a higher chance
of ensuring everybody has whatthey need to be successful,
(07:48):
because that percentage of thepopulation that will pick it up
is only going to be helped bythis approach.
And so the read act really saysteachers need to know, they
need to know the effective,efficient strategies, schools
need to be using curriculumsthat are aligned with those
strategies and that we need tobe assessing students.
We need to be ensuring thateach year that they're in school
(08:08):
we're checking to see who's ongrade level, who's not, and if
they're not on grade level, thatwe're responding to their needs
.
So the read acts bigger thanthat, but those are the big
points and so that's kind ofwhat's going on the national and
state level and then that feedsinto districts as we work to
implement this legislation.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And what you're describing right now is what's
known as the science of reading,isn't it?
That's kind of the buzz phrasethat we hear and read everywhere
.
Can you, without like, divingso deeply that we get lost?
But can you talk about how thescience of reading is different
(08:49):
than what we've already beendoing?
I'm imagining that there areparents listening to the podcast
today that are what you know.
Or, conversely, there arepeople like English majors, like
me, who say science of reading.
That's really scary, becauseEnglish majors and scientists
(09:11):
they don't usually partytogether, right?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, what's different?
What's different is it'spulling together lots of fields
of research that have to do withthe processes the brain employs
when it learns to read.
One thing that's reallyinteresting that was new
learning for me was that thebrain, the human brain, is not
(09:37):
hardwired to read or hardwiredto speak right.
So if you take a student or achild and you put them in an
environment, you don't have todo any explicit instruction on
how to speak.
You expose them to speech.
Kids pick it up.
It's a natural process.
You don't need instruction.
Reading is not this.
Reading involves visualprocessing, working memory.
(09:58):
It involves making sounds,hearing sounds, connecting words
to meaning, understandingcontext, understanding all these
nuanced pieces that our braindoes learn how to do this in
just lightning speed, right.
So what the science of readingis doing is it saying okay, the
(10:20):
cognitive science teaches usthis and visual processing
teaches us this, and all ofthese components more and more
come together to help usunderstand how all of this works
together to develop a reader.
And what the science of readingis is really the collection of
work that explains how the brainlearns to read.
What it tells us is there's twobig things that people have to
(10:43):
do to learn to read.
So this is called the simpleview of reading Tammy.
So this should be just perfectfor your simple explanation.
So the simple view of readingsays if you wanna be able to
comprehend or understand whatyou read, you have to do have
two things.
One, you have to literally beable to read the words on the
page, right, you have to be ableto decode those words,
(11:03):
understand what the letters onthe page make when they become a
word, and then you have tounderstand what those words mean
.
That's called languagecomprehension.
So I literally know that wordor I can understand that
sentence, and when you have bothof those things working, you
have reading comprehension.
But for students who maybestruggle with lifting words off
(11:24):
the page, maybe have some skillsin that area but have to spend
a lot of energy sounding outwords because it's not
necessarily automatic, it's hardto comprehend reading.
Lots of energy is going intosounding out words and by the
time I've sounded out that wordI maybe have forgotten what the
beginning of the sentence was.
And so part of theevidence-based practices is
(11:45):
really ensuring students havethat skill automatic.
That takes years.
Right by the end of third gradekids are really automatic with
sounding out words and beingable to lift words off the page,
and then from there it'svocabulary and background
knowledge that's really the key.
I've heard once that you'llnever understand a word in print
that you don't understand inspeech, and so sometimes we can
(12:08):
pull context and help us, butthat really struck with me too.
So the more that students areexposed to words, are spoken to,
are read to, the more wordsthat they understand and the
higher the chances that whenthey come across that word in
print, they'll be able tounderstand the meaning.
So when those two things combine, we understand what we read.
So that's really the simpleview of science of reading, if
(12:32):
you will.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
That's no that's really helpful and I think that,
again, for listeners this isbeing talked about so often
Having a good explanation ofwhat it is is really especially
for parents is really powerful.
So we talked national, wetalked state.
What exactly is happening inDistrict 742?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yes, we are well on our way in elementary and in
secondary as well, butelementary is my area of
expertise, and so we've startedtraining our kindergarten
through fifth grade teachers, aswell as some special education
staff, our EL staff, our mediaspecialists, our talent
development staff, which wetalked about earlier really
anyone who's helping to supportstudents in reading in a program
(13:16):
called Letters, which standsfor Language Essentials for
Teachers of Reading and Spellingand this is a really in-depth
training and it has teachersreading manuals, watching online
models, watching model lessons,really applying their knowledge
, thinking about their students,and it's intense and it's deep,
but it really helps teachersunderstand.
(13:38):
First that brain science howdoes the brain learn to read and
then, for each of the criticalparts of teaching reading, the
most effective ways to do that,what are the ways that are
proven to work for the most kidsand what are the things that we
can do in our classroom when wethink about how we allocate
time or what activities we havestudents engaging in that are
(13:59):
most likely to produce readers.
This is an eight-unit trainingand we'll be through two units
this year, and so it really is amulti-year endeavor, and it's
not just the learning, it's alsothe application.
So we are working on theimplementation of our new
learning.
After we have that chunk oflearning, we engage in a unit.
Then we move those practicesinto the classroom.
(14:20):
So that's what's happening atelementary right now to help our
teachers have that skill set.
Because I will say and I've saidthis many times from my own
experience coming in I did notknow the things that I'm
learning now.
So I'm going through thetraining myself and there are
many, many things that I wasn'tgiven the opportunity to learn
(14:41):
when I started my teachingcareer, and so I did have many
situations where, as a fifthgrade teacher, I had students
who were struggling to read,were struggling to understand
what they were reading, and Ididn't really know why and I
didn't really know what to do.
And so a lot of times I justkept looking for the right book,
like if I just find the rightbook, it's going to turn, it's
(15:02):
going to click.
You know, and we've all seenkids where it clicks, and I
think that sometimes gives afalse sense of hope or a false
sense of security for aneducator, because you've seen
that work.
We can all name instances wherethat's worked, but that isn't
the best or most efficient wayto teach reading, and so, while
I was trying to find the rightbook, I wasn't employing any
(15:26):
strategies that really wouldhave been helpful, and so I know
from personal experience thatthis is a game changer.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You really expect outcomes to change.
I really do.
As a result of letters, this is, this is very big picture and
and huge goals and and youpointed to Mississippi and there
are others that you've seen theoutcomes.
So it is exciting.
It is I.
(15:52):
When you say it's a gamechanger, I believe you.
It's really exciting.
What about teachers of reading?
I've been a teacher of readingfor 25 years.
How has this been for them tomake a kind of seismic shift in
how we go about things?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
You know that really hard it can be.
There can be a lot of feelings,and I know personally, I
experienced that myself.
So when, when teachers comeinto a classroom, right, they're
given a curriculum to teach,they're given their standards
from the state level that theyneed to teach, they have their
teacher training that they bringwith them.
But oftentimes you're reallyrelying on experts outside of
(16:33):
your classroom or maybe yourdistrict to say what's the best
approach to take.
And so for a lot of years,there were some really popular
curriculums and methods ofteaching literacy that really
leaned into more intuition andwhat feels right than what's
(16:53):
proven to work.
A lot of these programs had alot of appeal to teachers
because it's the kind of thingthat you would create with a
whole room full of proficientreaders.
So giving kids lots of accessto texts and giving kids lots of
comfy spaces to read and givingkids lots of opportunities for
(17:14):
their own choice, which soundsnice, right For you and I who
are proficient readers, we wouldlove to go into a beautiful
space yes, beautiful space withlots of books and make our own
choices about how to read andhave really great conversations
about what we're reading, butthat's really not a way to teach
(17:35):
a student to read.
That's an outcome of beingliterate, and so for a long time
, all across the nation, thatwas a very popular approach.
It was called Readers Workshop,and teachers really loved it in
some ways, but a lot of themwere questioning it as well,
like is this really helping mykids who are struggling?
(17:58):
Am I doing enough?
And then practice has sort ofshifted to bring back more of
the evidence based practices.
But the biggest thing that's soimportant is that the
instruction is explicit anddirect and systematic.
It's too important to have it besort of off the cuff or not
(18:19):
planned, and so when we'rethinking about how students
learn their letters, theirsounds, how to blend letters
together, how to spell trickyspelling patterns, we really
have to be well planned out.
We have to know exactly whatkids are getting in kindergarten
, to build on that in firstgrade, to ensure there aren't
gaps when we go into secondgrade, and that is something
(18:41):
that really, from my perspective, has been missing so oftentimes
.
Teachers would have access tolessons that do align with the
science of reading, but therewasn't that very prescriptive
scope, sequence order thatthings need to be taught, and
then there was teachers who tookone approach and teachers who
(19:02):
took another approach and thenthose kids all go into the next
grade level and the next gradelevel and so making sure that
we're really thoughtful in ourapproach is really important.
So for teachers who are kind ofgrappling with this, there can
be this sense of guilt a littlebit.
Had I known this, I could havedone a better job with former
(19:23):
students and we know the kidswere being left behind, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So yes, yeah it does hurt.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I hear lots of teachers say that if I had had
this knowledge when I wasstarting out, I would have done
such a better job, or I feel soguilty because I wasn't giving
kids what I now know.
And I just try to say when weknow better, we do better.
Right, and it wasn't anisolated thing.
It was across our country andin other countries as well,
where this was a very commonapproach and kids were impacted
(19:51):
in a pretty systematic way.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
What about from a parent's point of view?
Do I change what I do at homenow, or am I?
In my household, we just readbooks From the time we were
babies, we had books everywhereand it was just right a culture
(20:14):
of what we did.
So if I'm a parent nowlistening to the podcast today,
do I need to change something?
Do I just keep reading to mychildren, or is something
different for me too?
I?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
think honestly, prioritizing reading and
speaking are the best thingsthat parents can do.
So you remember I said there'stwo components.
There's the ability to pull thewords off the page, and parents
can work on that.
They can definitely help kidssound out words, they can point
out words, they can draw theirkids' attention to letters and
(20:49):
sounds.
But there is a prettysystematic, explicit way to do
that part and schools actuallyare really good at that part.
But the language and the wordsare so critical.
I cannot emphasize enough howimportant it is for families to
read to their kids and to talkto their kids, and there's
(21:10):
really very clear outcomes.
You can look at how many wordsa student knows when they come
into kindergarten and you canlook at their reading
comprehension in third grade,and there's a direct correlation
.
The thing that I have recentlyspent a lot of time learning
about is something calledconversational turns, and so
this is really the idea thatwhen we speak to children, we're
(21:32):
expecting them to speak back tous and we can help increase
their language by taking theirresponses and elaborating.
So I could maybe do somemodeling for you.
Oh, please do.
So we're, going to do a littleexperiment.
So, if your parents listening,I'm going to model three things
(21:52):
for you that could happen in thegrocery store and I'm going to
just say we've all been, allthree of these parents, I'm just
saying, because it depends onthe day and it depends on the
time that you have available.
So I want you to imagine maybe athree, four-year-old in the
shopping cart and you're pushingthe shopping cart along and the
kiddo picks up an avocado.
So in the first scenario aparent might say put that back,
(22:16):
we don't have time for that.
Why are you picking up anavocado?
We have to get your brotherfrom practice.
In that scenario, parent isspeaking but the student isn't
or the child isn't engaged inany sort of conversation and the
words that the child's hearingare pretty basic words that
they've heard before.
Put that back, we have to go.
Maybe avocado, Maybe avocado.
That might be a new one, but ingeneral it's not a lot of
(22:39):
exposure to new, interesting,sophisticated language.
In the second scenario, we havethe same parent.
The avocado gets picked up andthe parent might say what do you
have there?
Let's put that back and thechild might ask a question.
But there's a little bit of anexchange here where the parent
is saying do you know what thatis?
Child might say no, that's anavocado.
(23:01):
Have you had that before?
No, but it's maybe more one ortwo word answers where the
child's responding to the parentbut they're not really asking
to produce a whole lot oflanguage and there isn't a lot
that you can grab on to andextend.
But, as a parent, if you can dosomething like this, you're
holding an avocado.
What do you notice about theavocado?
(23:23):
It's green.
It is green and it's kind of adark green, isn't it?
Yes, you know we might callthat forest green.
Can you say that Forest green?
What else do you know that'sforest green?
And do you know what I see onthis avocado?
It says organic.
Have you ever heard that wordbefore?
Now it might feel weird to havethis much of a conversation
(23:44):
with your child and, truthfully,it could get tiring to do this
all the time.
But any opportunity we have todo the conversational turns
actually leads to higherintelligence levels and
increased IQs for students.
So it's imperative that parentsunderstand their role in giving
kids access to language is soimportant.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
And you actually do that too, and you actually did
several things there.
So vocabulary, because you'venow not just talked about
avocado, but you've introducedorganic.
Do you have you heard that wordbefore?
So that's an opportunity.
But also you've entered intofigurative language.
Some people call this forestgreen.
Why would that be?
(24:27):
I mean, just that short exampleis perfect to show the layering
and the richness of language.
It's really quite fascinating.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
And do you know what Words are free?
They're accessible all the time.
You don't have to buy somethingfancy, you don't need an app,
you don't.
You just need those words.
And then reading the bookelement of it is so critical
because actually the languagethat's used in children's books
is really sophisticated.
(25:01):
Kids have a way higher chanceof hearing unusual, interesting,
complex words from listening toa children's book.
That's way higher than watchingeven educational programming.
So for students who areengaging in screen time, they're
maybe learning.
There's great resources outthere that help students learn
(25:23):
on a screen.
But as far as language andhearing new words and being able
to engage with those words andthat back and forth reading
offers a great way to do that.
Because as a parent you're alsogoing through your day to day
and it's not always at the ready.
What sophisticated word can Ipull out of this grocery store
exchange With sitting andreading a book and then having
(25:44):
that in your mind like, oh, thisis a word that my child
probably doesn't know.
Let's talk about this word.
Let's have my child pronouncethis word.
Let's see if I can bring thisword up again sometime later
today.
Let's see if we can reread thebook tomorrow and see if the
child remembers the word andmaybe even can try to use the
word themselves.
So that is a great way toreally create the space for
(26:09):
those conversations and thatadditional vocabulary exposure.
And it's fun, it's so fun andit's connecting.
Just a kid in your lap right.
There's nothing beats that in agood book.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Nope and a rocking chair.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
All right.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well, we create all kinds of other opportunities in
district.
To you mention parents and theimportance of parents and
children reading together.
Talk about.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
PACRAD.
Yeah, pacrad is a great programthat really leans into the fact
that life is busy.
It's sometimes tricky to saywhat's that new book we're going
to pull off the shelf or can weget to the library or we're
tired of reading all the booksthat we have.
There's all those pieces thatjust can get in the way can be
(26:57):
obstacles, and PACRAD is reallyjust meant to create an easy way
for families to engage inreading, so families are able to
get.
You know the plastic bag.
It's got a book in it, it's gota few things that the family
can do together and it's rightin the kids backpack and it's
something that's switched out.
The books are curated to behigh interest, age appropriate,
(27:17):
have exciting vocabulary, and sofor families it's just one of
those win-wins.
It's right there for you.
All you got to do is pull thatout, find that spot where you're
going to engage in that booktogether and then, through the
summer, visit the PACRAD.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah, yeah, it's going to say in the summer
there's a box.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And it comes to you.
It comes to you, it comes rightinto our neighborhoods and,
being a person who lived in arural area, I went to the
bookmobile, which was the samesort of idea, same and I loved
it.
I loved just getting on the busand picking out a book.
And that's really what thePACRAD bus is all about Just
taking away those obstacles ofdaily life that can get in the
(27:55):
way and saying this beautifulbus full of books is literally
right outside your door.
Come and get books to read andbring them back.
So when the bus comes back, getnew ones and just focus on that
literacy piece.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It raises the level of engagement and excitement.
It's here, it's here, yes, forsure.
Almost as good as ice cream.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Almost.
There's not a.
I don't think it has that music.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Maybe we should get that going.
And also we're in the midst ofOne District, One Book, which
has been a tradition in ourdistrict for some time now.
Talk about that.
That's another opportunity.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's a great opportunity and we're so
grateful for our partnershipwith Shields on this one where
we have our whole elementaryread the same book, and so this
year we're reading Humphrey,which we read 10 years ago,
which was the book my son read.
Actually, when I, before I cameto 742, he was in kindergarten
and he read this book.
So it's been fun for my heartto go back to the Humphrey book.
(28:55):
But it is just a greatopportunity where every family
in elementary receives a bookand there is a reading schedule.
The families can read the book.
There's also really greatsupports for families.
So there's the chapters are readaloud.
So families who maybe are inthe car a lot or on the go or in
a tight schedule where you'rethinking, oh, I got to cook
dinner, but we're going tolisten to the chapter as well.
(29:17):
So we've got that built inplace.
And then each day at ourschools there's trivia questions
from the night before, so thekids who were able to read the
book with their families areable to engage in those trivia
questions.
And many of our elementary'sreally just go all out with
decking out their libraries andhaving family engagement nights
centered around the topic of thebook and it's just a lot of fun
(29:38):
.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I had the privilege of going out to Kennedy and
their media center is completelyeverything about.
One district, one book.
I mean they have a child sizehamster tunnels.
They have remember those Zuzupets.
Oh, yes, they have a wholetable set up with Zuzu pets, my
(29:59):
personal favorite was the yearwe read Mr Popper's penguins.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Oh Kil had live penguins that came from Hemker
Zoo at their family night.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Are you kidding?
I don't remember that.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And that's what literacy does, right.
It just opens up these things,that how often are you thinking
about hamsters or penguins orwhatever it is?
And it opens up this wholeworld of connections, vocabulary
, experiences, fun.
It's just a great thing allaround.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
And I want to come full circle on that too, because
you named Shields, who sponsorsone district, one book, such a
great, great partnership there.
You just mentioned Hemker Zooand Pat Gray has been supported
by LEAF, our local educationfoundation, since its inception.
We talked about teachers, wetalked about parents, but
(30:47):
honestly, d numerator D,numerator Three, okay Two, this
idea of bringing children, ofliteracy and embracing children
and bringing them along into theworld where they need to be,
that's all of us.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
That is.
That is that's community, andso much of it happens before
students even get to us.
So the amount of braindevelopment that's happening in
that birth to five, and theamount of words that a child
hears and uses, it's a big, bigdeal, and so we absolutely
recognize that schools have abig responsibility to teach
(31:19):
reading.
But, as a community, everythingthat we can do to increase
these opportunities for literacyand reading and speaking are so
important because it justbenefits our kids in such an
amazing way and it's somethingwe can all be part of.
Everyone in the community cansupport literacy, think and now
you're making something else.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Come forward.
Think of our volunteers, of ourgrandpa Johns and the people
who come into our schools andread.
We have high school athleteswho come into the elementary and
read.
It is.
It is about connection and alsoit's about joy.
This is an opportunity not justfor learning but to absolutely
(32:00):
kind of rejoice.
Sorry, english major here but,to rejoice in language and story
.
Yes, it's pretty beautiful.
Can you tell I'm?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
really excited you came here today.
I can tell that you're reallyexcited because, like, what's
better than literacy?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I don't need nothing.
What's better than books?
It just I can't think of it.
Okay, now I'm going to put youon the spot.
You ready?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Favorite childhood book of yours that I read myself
.
Yes, I was really into thebabysitters club, which is not
high brow literature, but I bet.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You read a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I read a lot of them but I think my favorite probably
elementary school book that Iwas exposed to by a teacher was
the classic hatchet.
It really pulled me in.
I was not an outdoorsy girlback in fifth grade but I can
remember so clearly just waitingto hear what was going to
(32:56):
happen and being completelysucked in to that story.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh, that's.
I remember that book well too.
Yeah, I taught for 15 yearsactually in this district at the
alternative school and hatcheteven then was still a huge crowd
favorite.
Okay, now favorite childhoodbook that you read to your kids.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Oh, this was easy.
So I read the Harry Potterseries to my kids and actually
when I was getting my teachinglicense, I had to read the first
Harry Potter.
So this is a little bit of afun story.
I loved it.
I was so sucked in and I willtell you now that, like having
reread them many times, thefirst one is not as exciting to
(33:39):
me as many of the subsequentbooks.
I remember taking this bookwith me to my job, because I had
a job where I was behind acounter and I could get some
homework done.
And then I got so sucked intoit.
I vividly remember having it onthe passenger seat and then
pulling it to read at stoplights, which is not safe.
You should not do this I was sosucked into it and so I could.
(34:01):
I can remember then I'm the agewhere I was an adult when the
books were coming out the laterbooks and so I would be buying
it the first day at Barnes andNoble and staying up all night
to read the books and havingkids and literally thinking I
cannot wait to read the seriesto my kids.
So we read the whole seriestogether and did the whole read
aloud piece and some of thetwists and turns that you know
(34:24):
are coming.
We're just delightful to watchmy kids expressions and faces
when some of these secrets getrevealed.
So I loved every single minuteof reading those hundreds and
hundreds of pages.
Oh, yes, it's not a, it's not asmall commitment.
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
But fun.
I have two daughters and we hada favorite remember reading
Rainbow.
We had a favorite readingRainbow book called Just Us
Women.
Oh, it's so wonderful and Ijust looked it up, it's still in
print and we absolutely lovethat book and read it all the
(35:01):
time.
Very slim, little volume butit's about an auntie who takes
her niece on a road trip andit's Just Us Women no boys and
no men allowed.
And my daughters were like allabout it.
This was like this concept, I'mtrying to think.
We always talked about it andthey picked, they packed a
(35:21):
picnic, she had a convertibleand and that's a title that I'll
never forget.
It's the experience, it's theconnection.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
It's profound right.
I can remember reading Rainbowthe Capiti plane.
Do you remember that one?
No, it was about the.
There's a line in it and Idon't know if it was just the
cadence of the speech, but ittalked about this these cows
being so skinny and dry, theymoved from their.
They moved for the rain to fallfrom the sky.
Oh my God, it's a folk tale Likethis boy has to shoot an arrow
(35:50):
into the cloud and then itfinally rains.
But I can remember just vividlyas a child reading Rainbow
books.
Really, you know they stickwith you.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
They do.
There's a magic.
There's no denying there's amagic.
Oh, thank you so much forcoming and talking to us today
about literacy.
It's really, it's my pleasure.
We appreciate you, thank you.
Do you have a great podcastidea?
Submit your idea tocommunications at ISD742.org.
(36:19):
And thank you for listening to742 Coffee Cast, the best place
to stay informed and be inspiredby St Cloud Area School
District.
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