Today, Samantha Statler and Becky Lewis sit down with the 2023 West Virginia Service Personnel of the Year, Jessica Grose. During this interview, we take a closer look at what makes Jessica a successful educator. She also shares some great tips on how she builds positive relationships with her teachers and students along with how she keeps her families engaged.
Today, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler sit down with the 2023 West Virginia Teacher of the Year, Amber Nichols. During this interview, we take a closer look at what makes Amber a successful educator. Not only does she share some great insight into her classroom practices, but she also shares her passion for education and helping her students achieve success.
During today’s episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss the five R’s for promoting positive family engagement which include: respect, reassurance, responsiveness/relationships, reciprocity, and reflection. Not only do they talk about what each of these five R’s means, but they also share strategies you can use in your classroom to help strengthen each of these components.
In this month’s Leaders of Literacy podcast episode, Becky and Sam continue their conversation around building positive culture and community in the classroom. This is an important task for all educators, and it truly sets the tone for the learning environment for the rest of the school year. Joining them for this conversation is lead Pre-K Teacher, Claire McCoy. Claire shares some great insight on strategies she uses to create norms and procedures in her classroom along with activities for stud...
Tune in to this episode as hosts, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss the importance of building classroom culture. The resource they use for this episode is the book High Impact Instruction- A Framework for Great Teaching written by Jim Knight. Samantha and Becky walk you through the five recommendations Jim offers in this text which are: co-construct norms with your students, reinforce students when they act consistently with the norms, spread learner-friendly emotions, design a learner-f...
Tune in to this episode as hosts, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss teacher clarity. Not only do they discuss what it is, but they also dive into why it is important and how you can ensure teacher clarity in your classroom.
In this episode of the Leaders of Literacy podcast, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Samantha Statler and Amber Meyers along with special guest, Janie Merendino discuss the importance of number sense and how it can be tied back into literature in the classroom. Janie shares her experiences working in the primary classroom. and also gives insight to how she used mathematics and literature together in her instruction.
Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Samantha Statler and Brittany Fike reflect on the previous episode where they interviewed Jim Knight. During that episode, Jim referred to his latest publication, The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching: Seven Factors to Success, several times. These seven factors include: the partnership principles, communication skills, coaches as leaders, the impact cycle, data, the instructional playbook, and system support. These ladies talk in-depth about ea...
Since the pandemic hit, educational leaders are making every effort to develop and implement new strategies to better support educators and students in all areas of education. As a result, over the past year or two, there has been a significant rise in interest around instructional coaching as an option to address these needs. Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Samantha Statler and Brittany Fike speak with special guest Jim Knight to discuss instructional coaching and how to effectively i...
Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler have a follow up discussion from the previous episode which focused on expanding student learning through strong community partnerships. To get a closer look at a strong community-school partnership, they hosted Marian Clowes. Marian is the associate director for community leadership at the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation. She is also a key member of the Wood County Reads group that helps to promote learning and li...
Looking for ways to build effective school-community partnerships? In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss the benefits and importance of forming effective school-community partnerships. Tune in to hear a little more about where you can start on your journey to building effective school-community partnerships.
Join Becky Lewis, Brandie Turner, and J.D. Maue, as they discuss how the Early and Elementary Technical Assistance Center (EL TAC) and Marshall University's June Harless Center can support districts and educators throughout the state with their summer learning programs.
Join Becky Lewis, Brandie Turner, and Christy Schwartz, as they discuss the engaging, hand-on activities that West Virginia Students experienced last year as a part of the Summer SOLE Grant Program. Christy shares tips and ideas that districts can take into consideration as they plan their upcoming summer learning programs.
In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Becky Lewis and Danielle Irby interview Leslie Summers. Leslie works in the WVU Extension Office and discusses some of the extended learning services that are available through the WVU Extension Office. Leslie primary focus is on positive youth development by offering programs to Cabell County students.
In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Becky Lewis and Danielle Irby, talk with Keisha Runion, the Science, STEAM, Computer Science, and Social Studies coordinator in Early and Elementary Services in the Office of Teaching and Learning at the WV Department of Education about incorporating STEAM into extended learning opportunities. Not only do these ladies discuss the importance of afterschool STEAM programs, but they also provide the latest findings and research in West Vir...
In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Sam Statler and Kerri Templeton, are joined by Paula Stewart, an Infant/Toddler Specialist. Paula brings light to the importance of a toddler’s social and emotional well-being. She also shares several strategies a caregiver could use during their daily routine to help foster the learn.
Not sure how to work on school readiness skills with an infant or toddler? Tune in to hear from three of the Early and Elementary Learning Specialists as they discuss how you can help support language and literacy skills, thinking skills, and even help instill self-confidence in our young learners. Believe it or not, it is through daily routines with your infant that you can help to build foundational milestones. Reading together, having back-and-forth conversations, and even letting them explor...
Using project work to integrate early literacy and early math in your classroom may sound like a daunting task, but allowing your students interests to be heard and exploring them more in depth can make learning fun AND engaging. If you have been debating using project work in your classroom, our special guest shares a plethora of suggestions and ideas from her own classroom experiences.
In our previous podcast episode, we discussed the importance of integrating early literacy and numeracy. In this episode, early and elementary learning specialists Becky Lewis, Sam Statler, and Amber Myers discuss the “how” of integrating these two topics as it pertains to early educators and other childcare providers serving children from birth to age six.
Tune in to listen to special guest Kristy Ritz discuss how community organizations can support families with early childhood development.
Both early literacy and early numeracy play an important role in developing the minds of our young children. Even though some may believe that these are two separate concepts, they are naturally connected. Both concepts include spoken and written language, and both are grounded in the foundation of oral language through conversations and vocabulary development. It is critical for community organizations and educators to support parents and caregivers with this understanding of early numeracy and...
Join award-winning educator and best-selling author Weston Kieschnick along with two of the Early and Elementary Learning Specialists as they discuss the importance of teacher-student relationships. Weston walks us through what relationships really mean when it comes to teaching and learning and how they are truly the foundation for everything that needs to happen in a healthy classroom, school, or district. Weston reminds us that the single greatest gift we can give a child is a relationship wi...
Teacher-student relationships are crucial for successful learning, especially after the year everyone has had. As educators, we must be focused on more than meeting the academic needs of our students, but we have to focus on meeting their social and emotional needs as well. As we prepare for a new school year in West Virginia, the shared message is that relationships and the social/emotional well-being of our students are among the top priorities. Although we know the importance of relationships...
It is difficult to have a conversation around English Language Arts instruction without the terms Science of Reading and structured literacy coming up, but what exactly is structured literacy? Structured literacy is a way that all students can acquire literacy skills through lessons that are direct, explicit, appropriately sequenced, systematic, cumulative, and intensive. Each of these elements is crucial for our young learners as they begin their journey as readers. Not only is it important for...
To succeed in school and in life, children can’t just be little mathematicians, readers, and scientists; they need to grow confident in themselves; they need to understand others, and they need to work together with others to solve problems. Educators and pediatricians often refer to this set of skills as “social and emotional” skills and this social and emotional learning (SEL) is a vital part of children's learning and development. It's the process of developing a healthy identity, understandi...
Every year students enter our classrooms with issues or events that have impacted their executive functioning and ability to self-regulate. The COVID-19 pandemic will likely exacerbate this issue and educators are likely to see a sharp increase in students this fall that will struggle with the ability to self-regulate. In order to combat this issue and set students up to be successful at the start of the school year, educators will need to be aware of the tools that they can equip their students...
Our students enter our schools and classrooms with more on their shoulders and hearts than we realize. Supporting their mental health is a crucial step in helping them lift this weight, but it can seem like a daunting task for any educator. Collaborating with other staff within our buildings can be a great way to make supporting and developing positive mental health practices in our classrooms more manageable and intentional. Sara Hutchinson and I sit down with school counselors, Allyson Kangiss...
Student mental health is currently a big focus in education. But what do educators need to know about mental health and where can they begin? Sara Hutchinson and I sit down to discuss these questions and more as we focus today’s conversation on the West Virginia Tiered System of Support with a specific focus on supporting mental health in our schools and classrooms.
Planning for extended learning opportunities is an important task that our district leaders and community partners engage in annually; however, with the impact on learning that the COVID-19 pandemic has had, it is critical to ensure that these extended learning opportunities are rigorous, engaging, and meaningful to support students’ learning recovery. Today, Brittany Fike and I sit down with Darlene Dingess-Adkins, a fellow West Virginia Educator from Logan County, to discuss how Logan County h...
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on education and student learning. With the uncertainty of how much learning loss has occurred, how can districts, community partners, and educators ensure that summer programming is effective in helping students recover from the pandemic? Today, Brittany Fike and I sit down to discuss the latest research on planning and implementing effective extended learning programs to support student learning recovery. We will also be joined by Christy Schwartz, a...
