REAP-trained teacher at Burgess-Peterson Academy teaching the -dge lesson

REAP 10-Day Basic PDSL Training

Structured Literacy Professional Development, Workshop & Modeling Program

This 10-day program is for teachers who want to begin their Structured Literacy training. Structured Literacy coursework composes the bulk of the program. Then we solidify the knowledge from the coursework through workshops and modeling. This method has been highly effective in preparing teachers to teach struggling readers in the classroom.

This program is very popular with schools/systems looking to train multiple teachers at one time. *Note: This program requires substitutes for participating teachers for all 10 days.

10-Day Basic Training for Individual Teachers

Individual teachers can apply for 10-Day Basic Training in mixed-school sessions during the school year. Availability for individual teachers is limited and may not be offered each year.

Apply for individual teacher training

Applications are due February 20. Training dates and locations (metro Atlanta) are announced in March.


10-Day Basic Structured Literacy Coursework (36 hours)

This course is developed specifically for public school teachers. It advances the understanding of the underlying principles in teaching reading, spelling, and vocabulary in the public school classroom. Teachers learn how to teach struggling readers to unlock the code.

This very comprehensive course addresses:

  • Overview of dyslexia, research, and the brain differences that cause children to struggle to learn to read and write.
  • Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness – differences in the two and activities to teach them.
  • Instruction in the pronunciation and spelling of all of the phonograms: consonants, blends, digraphs, single vowels, vowel teams, and r-controlled vowels.
  • Scope and sequence of skills and illustration of how instruction should build from the simple to the more complex.
  • Order of teaching and how to teach and practice the six types of syllables in the English language.
  • Order of teaching and how to teach and practice the seven ways to divide words into syllables.
  • The four short-vowel rules and practice in application using nonsense words.
  • The c and g rule and its importance particularly for reading.
  • Instruction in basic prefixes and suffixes and roots – and how to teach these word parts.
  • The three suffix rules – practice in spelling with these using nonsense words. The importance of these rules is that every time a suffix is added to a word, one of these rules applies.
  • Multisensory techniques for learned words.

Practical Application: Connecting the Learning (12 hours)

This portion of the program connects coursework knowledge to the practical classroom implementation. Teachers will observe additional modeling and they will create resources and practice strategies for effectively incorporating newly acquired information and techniques into daily classroom instruction.

Modeling

Literacy leaders will teach demonstration lessons that show how the knowledge learned in the coursework is applied in large-group teaching. After each demonstration lesson the literacy leader will debrief the lesson, sharing how and why teaching decisions were made.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this program, teachers will be able to:

  1. Utilize the Orton-Gillingham and Structured Literacy teaching techniques to deliver explicit reading instruction based on the skills of their students. Teachers will gain a deeper understanding of the progression of reading skills and how to match instruction to the needs of the students.
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of the alphabetic principle and how to effectively teach phonics through class participation, assignments, quizzes, and classroom observations.
  3. Utilize visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile (VAKT) teaching techniques.
  4. Explicitly teach phonological concepts and incorporate these concepts into reading and spelling words, phrases, sentences, and connected text.
  5. Prepare and teach lesson plans based on this approach that teachers will share with peers and coaches for feedback.

Materials Provided

Training Manual, Drill Deck, Lesson Planning Worksheets

Assessment

Teachers will complete a pre-test and a post-test to measure the knowledge they gain during the program.

Ongoing support & teaching materials

All teachers who complete coursework with REAP become part of the REAP networking group of trained public school teachers who are eligible for REAP resources and opportunities.


Want more info?

To get more information about the REAP 10-Day Basic PDSL Training, please use our Contact form and mention the 10-Day OG Training Program in your message.