APS Lucy Calkins- how does this happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know what Wilson’s Fundations is. But what about Wilson Reading and Wit and Wisdom? Do these curriculums complement each other or do schools have to pick one or the other?

There are two components to reading: the first is decoding. Can you look at the words, know how to read them based on letter sounds and phonemic awareness. Can you read these words with fluency and accuracy. The second half of reading is comprehension: can you make MEANING of what you read *as you decode*? Wit and Wisdom deals more with teaching explicit skills to aid with comprehension. Fundations is focused on decoding and fluency first. It’s teaching kids the how to read; W&W comes later to teach them to read for comprehension and meaning and purpose.

Thanks. This is useful. I have two questions:

1) My understanding is that in some APS schools like ATS, they use Wilson’s Fundations but then also Wilson Reading. My assumption was that Wilson’s Reading is for older kids. Is Wilson’s Reading just the same as Fundations?

2) Does any school in APS or any of the area public schools such as FCPS use Wit and Wisdom? I know that it is used in Baltimore because of some article I read but is it used anywhere in Northern Virginia?

Not PP but does the Wilson tier 2 program complement wit and wisdom or do you pick one or the other? https://www.wilsonlanguage.com/programs/wilson-reading-system/

If a system is using Wilson Reading they would use the tier 2 decoding and fluency programs in elementary grades building up into wit and wisdom. When kids can start doing reading workshop when they’re independent readers they can continue working on bigger words and more complex syntax but wit and wisdom helps them understand the elements of story or text features in nonfiction texts, etc. How to look for info, or analyze character change, or detect conflict.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know what Wilson’s Fundations is. But what about Wilson Reading and Wit and Wisdom? Do these curriculums complement each other or do schools have to pick one or the other?

There are two components to reading: the first is decoding. Can you look at the words, know how to read them based on letter sounds and phonemic awareness. Can you read these words with fluency and accuracy. The second half of reading is comprehension: can you make MEANING of what you read *as you decode*? Wit and Wisdom deals more with teaching explicit skills to aid with comprehension. Fundations is focused on decoding and fluency first. It’s teaching kids the how to read; W&W comes later to teach them to read for comprehension and meaning and purpose.

Thanks. This is useful. I have two questions:

1) My understanding is that in some APS schools like ATS, they use Wilson’s Fundations but then also Wilson Reading. My assumption was that Wilson’s Reading is for older kids. Is Wilson’s Reading just the same as Fundations?

2) Does any school in APS or any of the area public schools such as FCPS use Wit and Wisdom? I know that it is used in Baltimore because of some article I read but is it used anywhere in Northern Virginia?

Not PP but does the Wilson tier 2 program complement wit and wisdom or do you pick one or the other? https://www.wilsonlanguage.com/programs/wilson-reading-system/

So Wilson’s Fundations is for all k-2 kids. Wilson’s Reading program is a tier 2/3 program for children that are still struggling to read. This link explains it better: https://www.wilsonlanguage.com/programs/

My understanding is that Wit and Wisdom’s curriculum is designed to come after Wilson’s Fundations and to complement it. Fundations focuses on phonics. Wit and Wisdom focuses on knowledge.

[Anonymous]

We use Wit and Wisdom in K-8 alongside Fundations in K-2. W&W has decodable texts called Geodes that align with Fundations. I'm not a big fan of W&W in K-2. It's not very developmentally appropriate at all. There is no real writing instruction. The curriculum assumes students can write.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use Wit and Wisdom in K-8 alongside Fundations in K-2. W&W has decodable texts called Geodes that align with Fundations. I'm not a big fan of W&W in K-2. It's not very developmentally appropriate at all. There is no real writing instruction. The curriculum assumes students can write.

I don’t know that it assumes kids can write as much as it assumes a school has a separate writing curriculum. W&W doesn’t deal in writing and they’re two very distinct areas that require different instruction and modeling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just phonics. All kids benefit from a content-rich ELA curriculum. Read The Knowledge Gap or any article by Natalie Wexler.

This is why actual teachers are saying this is more complex than it looks. ALL kids will do better when they have relevant background knowledge to activate and apply to the text. Experiences, common knowledge, etc. So the curriculum has to reflect all kids cultural backgrounds appropriately which is why it needs to be diverse but of course this is another reason kids growing up in poverty tend not to do well: they lack books and exposure to these experiences and common knowledge ideas that give them that background knowledge which is a huge activator of understanding and attaching meaning to a text. Students in poverty also tend to be Black or Hispanic, and they are also least represented in a curriculum, reading or otherwise. They then don’t see themselves in the books and disengage and become harder to get back on track. Many teachers are white; they lack a true understanding of how to teach students who aren’t white and pinpoint Black and Hispanic students as behavior problems or having special needs. They get less reading instruction. It is really, REALLY multiplayers and is not as simple as “Lucy sucks and all teachers who use it suck.” You could change reading curriculum and it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t address the other stuff too.

Natalie Wexler addresses this in her book which you clearly haven’t read. There are two components to reading comprehension: (a) decoding which is phonics and (b) knowledge. You need both for reading comprehension. Schools need to have a knowledge based curriculum to address gaps in background knowledge. Curriculums such as Wit and Wisdom and Core Knowledge focus on developing background knowledge. You need a curriculum to address background knowledge. Otherwise kids may be learning about let’s say the solar system every year because their first grade teacher decided to teach it, then their second grade teacher, then third etc. So by the end of elementary school they would have had 4 years where they learned about the solar system but let’s say zero years learning about ancient Egypt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just phonics. All kids benefit from a content-rich ELA curriculum. Read The Knowledge Gap or any article by Natalie Wexler.

This is why actual teachers are saying this is more complex than it looks. ALL kids will do better when they have relevant background knowledge to activate and apply to the text. Experiences, common knowledge, etc. So the curriculum has to reflect all kids cultural backgrounds appropriately which is why it needs to be diverse but of course this is another reason kids growing up in poverty tend not to do well: they lack books and exposure to these experiences and common knowledge ideas that give them that background knowledge which is a huge activator of understanding and attaching meaning to a text. Students in poverty also tend to be Black or Hispanic, and they are also least represented in a curriculum, reading or otherwise. They then don’t see themselves in the books and disengage and become harder to get back on track. Many teachers are white; they lack a true understanding of how to teach students who aren’t white and pinpoint Black and Hispanic students as behavior problems or having special needs. They get less reading instruction. It is really, REALLY multiplayers and is not as simple as “Lucy sucks and all teachers who use it suck.” You could change reading curriculum and it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t address the other stuff too.

Natalie Wexler addresses this in her book which you clearly haven’t read. There are two components to reading comprehension: (a) decoding which is phonics and (b) knowledge. You need both for reading comprehension. Schools need to have a knowledge based curriculum to address gaps in background knowledge. Curriculums such as Wit and Wisdom and Core Knowledge focus on developing background knowledge. You need a curriculum to address background knowledge. Otherwise kids may be learning about let’s say the solar system every year because their first grade teacher decided to teach it, then their second grade teacher, then third etc. So by the end of elementary school they would have had 4 years where they learned about the solar system but let’s say zero years learning about ancient Egypt.

I literally said all that and more on the last page and in this comment. I am an actual literacy teacher, not someone who just read a Wexler book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use Wit and Wisdom in K-8 alongside Fundations in K-2. W&W has decodable texts called Geodes that align with Fundations. I'm not a big fan of W&W in K-2. It's not very developmentally appropriate at all. There is no real writing instruction. The curriculum assumes students can write.

Who’s “we” PP? Where do you teach? And does you school have a separate writing curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We use Wit and Wisdom in K-8 alongside Fundations in K-2. W&W has decodable texts called Geodes that align with Fundations. I'm not a big fan of W&W in K-2. It's not very developmentally appropriate at all. There is no real writing instruction. The curriculum assumes students can write.

Who’s “we” PP? Where do you teach? And does you school have a separate writing curriculum?

I'm in MD but have strong feelings against LC as do most of my colleagues. Our district does not have a separate writing curriculum and it is a big void.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just phonics. All kids benefit from a content-rich ELA curriculum. Read The Knowledge Gap or any article by Natalie Wexler.

This is why actual teachers are saying this is more complex than it looks. ALL kids will do better when they have relevant background knowledge to activate and apply to the text. Experiences, common knowledge, etc. So the curriculum has to reflect all kids cultural backgrounds appropriately which is why it needs to be diverse but of course this is another reason kids growing up in poverty tend not to do well: they lack books and exposure to these experiences and common knowledge ideas that give them that background knowledge which is a huge activator of understanding and attaching meaning to a text. Students in poverty also tend to be Black or Hispanic, and they are also least represented in a curriculum, reading or otherwise. They then don’t see themselves in the books and disengage and become harder to get back on track. Many teachers are white; they lack a true understanding of how to teach students who aren’t white and pinpoint Black and Hispanic students as behavior problems or having special needs. They get less reading instruction. It is really, REALLY multiplayers and is not as simple as “Lucy sucks and all teachers who use it suck.” You could change reading curriculum and it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t address the other stuff too.

Natalie Wexler addresses this in her book which you clearly haven’t read. There are two components to reading comprehension: (a) decoding which is phonics and (b) knowledge. You need both for reading comprehension. Schools need to have a knowledge based curriculum to address gaps in background knowledge. Curriculums such as Wit and Wisdom and Core Knowledge focus on developing background knowledge. You need a curriculum to address background knowledge. Otherwise kids may be learning about let’s say the solar system every year because their first grade teacher decided to teach it, then their second grade teacher, then third etc. So by the end of elementary school they would have had 4 years where they learned about the solar system but let’s say zero years learning about ancient Egypt.

I literally said all that and more on the last page and in this comment. I am an actual literacy teacher, not someone who just read a Wexler book.

Not PP, but... you said that kids lack background knowledge and this is a big contributor to literacy issues. You did not, however, offer any suggestions to fix it. Curricula like Core Knowledge and Wit & Wisdom do just that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use Wit and Wisdom in K-8 alongside Fundations in K-2. W&W has decodable texts called Geodes that align with Fundations. I'm not a big fan of W&W in K-2. It's not very developmentally appropriate at all. There is no real writing instruction. The curriculum assumes students can write.

Which school system is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We use Wit and Wisdom in K-8 alongside Fundations in K-2. W&W has decodable texts called Geodes that align with Fundations. I'm not a big fan of W&W in K-2. It's not very developmentally appropriate at all. There is no real writing instruction. The curriculum assumes students can write.

Which school system is this?

Baltimore City Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We use Wit and Wisdom in K-8 alongside Fundations in K-2. W&W has decodable texts called Geodes that align with Fundations. I'm not a big fan of W&W in K-2. It's not very developmentally appropriate at all. There is no real writing instruction. The curriculum assumes students can write.

Who’s “we” PP? Where do you teach? And does you school have a separate writing curriculum?

I'm in MD but have strong feelings against LC as do most of my colleagues. Our district does not have a separate writing curriculum and it is a big void.

Thanks PP. What about in 3rd grade and above? If there is no writing curriculum what do you do for writing?

[Anonymous]

I'm homeschooling due to the poor state of FCPS ELA instruction.

Just curious, for your kids who are DL at the public schools what does DL writing instruction look like?

My daughter is in 5th and our current writing assignment is being done done in stages. It has been 2 weeks of back and forth. We have just finished up our 3rd revision to the rough draft and are moving today into proofreading. Only now are we moving from pencil and paper to typing it. We have separate Grammer lessons, but with my daughter in 5th we are really focusing on semicolon use for this exercise.

How does this writing process work for DL? I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Do teachers add notes into the turned in document? For me, at home, I make so many corrections in red ink. I don't tell my daughter the answers, but circle the issues...use question marks, wavy lines, star important ideas and such. Are kids meeting with teachers one on one and getting feedback on their writing? Seems quite difficult to so these hand offs online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just phonics. All kids benefit from a content-rich ELA curriculum. Read The Knowledge Gap or any article by Natalie Wexler.

This is why actual teachers are saying this is more complex than it looks. ALL kids will do better when they have relevant background knowledge to activate and apply to the text. Experiences, common knowledge, etc. So the curriculum has to reflect all kids cultural backgrounds appropriately which is why it needs to be diverse but of course this is another reason kids growing up in poverty tend not to do well: they lack books and exposure to these experiences and common knowledge ideas that give them that background knowledge which is a huge activator of understanding and attaching meaning to a text. Students in poverty also tend to be Black or Hispanic, and they are also least represented in a curriculum, reading or otherwise. They then don’t see themselves in the books and disengage and become harder to get back on track. Many teachers are white; they lack a true understanding of how to teach students who aren’t white and pinpoint Black and Hispanic students as behavior problems or having special needs. They get less reading instruction. It is really, REALLY multiplayers and is not as simple as “Lucy sucks and all teachers who use it suck.” You could change reading curriculum and it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t address the other stuff too.

Natalie Wexler addresses this in her book which you clearly haven’t read. There are two components to reading comprehension: (a) decoding which is phonics and (b) knowledge. You need both for reading comprehension. Schools need to have a knowledge based curriculum to address gaps in background knowledge. Curriculums such as Wit and Wisdom and Core Knowledge focus on developing background knowledge. You need a curriculum to address background knowledge. Otherwise kids may be learning about let’s say the solar system every year because their first grade teacher decided to teach it, then their second grade teacher, then third etc. So by the end of elementary school they would have had 4 years where they learned about the solar system but let’s say zero years learning about ancient Egypt.

I literally said all that and more on the last page and in this comment. I am an actual literacy teacher, not someone who just read a Wexler book.

Not PP, but... you said that kids lack background knowledge and this is a big contributor to literacy issues. You did not, however, offer any suggestions to fix it. Curricula like Core Knowledge and Wit & Wisdom do just that.

No they don’t. I said you could switch curriculum which may address some but real change would require a systemic overhaul, not just curriculum. Do not be foolish enough to believe any one curriculum itself will address systemic inequities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm homeschooling due to the poor state of FCPS ELA instruction.

Just curious, for your kids who are DL at the public schools what does DL writing instruction look like?

My daughter is in 5th and our current writing assignment is being done done in stages. It has been 2 weeks of back and forth. We have just finished up our 3rd revision to the rough draft and are moving today into proofreading. Only now are we moving from pencil and paper to typing it. We have separate Grammer lessons, but with my daughter in 5th we are really focusing on semicolon use for this exercise.

How does this writing process work for DL? I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Do teachers add notes into the turned in document? For me, at home, I make so many corrections in red ink. I don't tell my daughter the answers, but circle the issues...use question marks, wavy lines, star important ideas and such. Are kids meeting with teachers one on one and getting feedback on their writing? Seems quite difficult to so these hand offs online.

The multiple rounds of revisions is done in APS, as well. It’s extremely frustrating when writing on paper. If done some long term sub assignments and have seen writing in a few grades. So much about these method sucks the joy out of writing. They work on one piece for a whole month.