Welcome to this course on advancing your practice as a teacher and leader in the literacy classroom. Whether you’re new to teaching or have years of experience, this course is designed to challenge and support your growth as both an educator and a reflective practitioner. In today’s classrooms, literacy is more than just reading and writing—it’s the key that unlocks every content area, from science and social studies to the arts and mathematics. Our work together will focus on developing a deep understanding of how students learn to read, how they sometimes struggle, and how you can use evidence-based methods to help every learner thrive.
Throughout the course, you’ll explore the latest research on the science of reading, including how the brain’s visual, phonological, and semantic systems work together to build skilled readers. We’ll break down core frameworks—like Scarborough’s Reading Rope and Ehri’s Phases—to help you spot where reading breakdowns occur and what to do next. You’ll get hands-on with real case studies, interpreting student data and distinguishing between word-recognition and language-comprehension needs. We’ll also explore the unique demands of teaching literacy to adolescents, including how to foster engagement, motivation, and critical thinking across different subject areas.
You’ll learn how to align your teaching with Indiana’s Standard 7 for secondary educators and how to design activities that build students’ reading and writing skills in your discipline. We’ll dig into strategies for teaching academic vocabulary and planning lessons that boost both understanding and curiosity. Assessment is a big part of effective teaching, so you’ll practice selecting the right screeners, interpreting results, and using tiered frameworks like RTI/MTSS to match students with the support they need.
But literacy is more than skills and standards—it’s also about community, discourse, and reflection. You’ll design opportunities for collaboration and effective classroom talk, and you’ll develop your own teaching philosophy. By the end of the course, you’ll have a professional portfolio that reflects your learning and growth, ready to guide your future practice.
This course is practical, challenging, and rooted in real classrooms. You’ll leave with strategies you can use right away—and a deeper understanding of what it means to lead students to literacy success.