Science of Reading workshops continue at Trine

Trine University’s Franks School of Education (FSOE) continues to host workshops with teachers and administrators from area school districts to discuss implementation of the Science of Reading in the classroom, thanks to a Lilly Endowment Inc. grant.

Events have included Orton Gillingham International training, teacher collaboration and learning sessions, and collaboration meetings for area K-6 administrators and literacy specialists.

“Trine's Franks School of Education is thrilled to offer these unique opportunities to local educators and our teacher candidates,” said Megan Tolin, DET, dean of the Franks School of Education. “These partnerships will empower teachers with cutting-edge strategies and tools, ultimately benefiting local elementary students."

Orton Gillingham

The most recent Orton Gillingham training was held Friday, Nov. 8, in Shambaugh Hall.

Orton Gillingham provides state-of-the-art structured literacy training programs designed to prepare educators to provide reading instruction to all students and targeted instruction to struggling readers, including those with dyslexia.

FSOE hosted a virtual Orton Gillingham training in November and meetings for area principals and literacy specialists will take place in the spring.

To date, FSOE has had 70 participants in Orton Gillingham training from Trine’s Transition to Teaching program, DeKalb Central Schools, Fremont Community Schools, Garrett-Keyser-Butler Community School District, MSD of Steuben County, Oak Farm Montessori and Prairie Heights Community School Corporation.

In addition, Trine’s elementary education majors will graduate with Orton Gillingham International certification.

Any area teacher interested in Orton Gillingham training can contact Alecia Pfefferkorn, assistant professor in the FSOE, at pfefferkorna@trine.edu for additional information.

Teacher collaboration and learning sessions

The FSOE offered teacher collaboration and learning sessions in August, September, October and November. The sessions were open to current teachers and Trine teacher candidates.

Topics discussed were phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding. A total of 73 were in attendance for the meetings from DeKalb Central Schools, DeKalb Eastern Schools, Fremont Community Schools, Garrett-Keyser-Butler Community School District, Hamilton Community Schools, Lakeland Community Schools, MSD of Steuben County, Prairie Heights Community School Corporation and Trine University.

The following sessions are scheduled: Jan. 28, Vocabulary and Fluency; Feb. 24, Comprehension; March 13, Written Expression; and April 24, Assessment and Decision-Making.

Area teachers can contact Pfefferkorn for additional information and to be added to the registration emails.

Collaboration meetings

Collaboration meetings for area K-6 administrators and literacy specialists were held May 9 and Sept. 11 with participation from Central Noble Community Schools, DeKalb Central Schools, DeKalb Eastern Schools, Fremont Community Schools, Garrett-Keyser-Butler Community School District, Hamilton Community Schools, Lakeland Community Schools, MSD of Steuben County and Prairie Heights Community School Corporation.

These meetings will continue in the spring and fall. Area administrators can contact Pfefferkorn for additional information.

Trine University received a grant of $750,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. earlier this year through its initiative, Advancing the Science of Reading in Indiana (ASRI).

According to the Indiana Department of Education, the Science of Reading (SoR) brings together research from education, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology and neuroscience to explain how people learn to read and inform best practices for teaching reading.