We are making great strides in Reading and Writing school-wide at ACS Cobham through the initiatives and expertise of our own teacher-leaders. Most of you parents are aware of our strong Language Arts and English instruction in LS, MS and HS classrooms.  However, you may not be aware of the new literacy programs, methodology, assessments and resources that are being implemented under the leadership of Curriculum leaders and Heads of Departments. Collaborative planning and common/coordinated implementation for LS and MS grade levels and HS English courses have been the key to these improvements. 

Reading:  When our K-12 CATs team met last year, we recognized the need to address a greater range of reading skills for students in each classroom and across each division. Six intertwined approaches were identified to accomplish this task:

1. A review of the literature all students read across each division has been a major project, with divisional leaders sharing lists of core and shared works to avoid overlap, use a greater variety of genres and select more age appropriate texts.

2. The selection and development of Reading standards, benchmarks and divisional/grade level expectations with teacher teams reviewing them and aligning instructional strategies and assessments is currently in progress.  

3.  A consistent diagnostic tool to assess students’ reading ability, to determine their reading level, and to inform teacher’s instruction is the comprehensive DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment), is now being conducted for every student from Kindergarten through grade 6. But this has required a series of workshops conducted first by teachers from ACS Egham and this year by our own 3rd grade teacher, Tara Natrass and LS Reading Curriculum leader, Elizabeth Harris. Faculty meetings and in-service days have been devoted to training teachers for  consistency of implementation and inter-rater reliability of scoring.

4. A Reading assessment that measures students’ skill levels at developmentally appropriate stages is now being implemented, recorded and reported to parents from Kindergarten through grade 6.  The Bonnie Campbell Hill continuum, serves as a helpful tool for teachers, students and parents to track individual reading progress. MS teachers sharing projects and HS teachers planning common exams has improved consistency of expectations.  

5.  Guided reading groups at LS and MS, based on the DRA and Reading Continuum, are now used to differentiate instruction for students placed at appropriate levels.  In addition to large group instruction, students in K- grade10 classes are working in small groups not only to develop reading skills but to discuss and analyse texts through literature circles. 

6.New, increased and more varied reading resources have been required to effectively implement the above reading assessments and methodology. Leveled and guided reading libraries have been established and expanded by our Reading Curriculum leaders, Liz Harris and Patricia Gianolla and MS HOD, Sarah Venus, through their selection and processing of one thousand new books. They have also ordered more non-fiction materials, including leveled books for Science and Social Studies topics. Debra Daniels, as HOD and her HS English Department, have initiated a new policy for IB and AP students purchasing their own texts so they can better analyse and annotate literature for the external examinations.

Writing: The  CATS team and LA/English departments also recognized the need to improve students’ writing skills through a consistent assessment and use of rubrics as well as providing more and varied writing opportunities for students.  The 6 traits of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions are now being taught from grades 4 through grades 10 in English and SS with Write Source and Writer’s Inc. student resources.  MS charted their types and forms of writing.  HS English 9,10 and 11   teachers are implementing and will be expanding writing units, assignments and assessments.

 “The three R’s of our school system must be supported by the three T’s: teachers who are superior, techniques of instruction that are modern, and thinking about education which places it first in all our plans and hopes. (Lyndon B. Johnson, former US President)