The 95% Difference: Why Coaching and Practicum are the Keys to Instructional Mastery
The Reality of the Knowing-Doing Gap You know that feeling of walking out of a training session with fresh resources and a heart full of inspiration, only to hit a wall the moment you face a student whose profile doesn’t fit the "textbook" example? It’s the gap between knowing the Science of Reading and skillfully navigating the messy, real-world application of it all with real students in a real classroom. Having the foundational knowledge is...
💪Training to Outlast Your Curriculum 🔄 (And how to fund it!)
Is your team caught in a cycle of "program-hopping"? Every few years, a new literacy initiative arrives with a fresh set of "cute mnemonics." But as a recent Education Week article highlights, changing the labels doesn't necessarily change the instruction. It just creates a "Cycle of Confusion" for teachers and students alike. At Chartwell Teaching Institute, we believe in Knowledge > Kits. Our training and coaching are curriculum-agnostic....
Increasing Safety and Level of Independence in the Math Classroom through the Use of a Bell Work Routine
Written by Cheryl Milton Math trauma can significantly impact a student's ability to engage with mathematics in the classroom. For example, students may struggle to initiate or complete math tasks. To effectively teach math to students who have experienced math trauma or anxiety, it's essential to prioritize strategies that help them overcome these challenges. By addressing their emotional needs, we can create a supportive learning environment...
The Transformative Power of Structured, Explicit Literacy Instruction
Written by Hannah Shickle Hannah Shickle believes that “when we teach reading right, we change lives.” Her own experience with dyslexia, ADHD, and scotopic sensitivity syndrome inform her practices in the classroom uniquely. Hannah’s journey to teaching effective literacy instruction began with an internal battle and has resulted in her impacting hundreds of students and their right to read. Imagine this: a bright, eager student, yearning to...
Empowering Students Through Dictation
Written by Crissy Maras Teacher Crissy Maras explains the dictation portion of her structured literacy lesson with middle school students. The small group is receiving intervention with Wilson Language Training. She empowers her students to take risks and develop a positive mindset. After introducing the new vowel team “ea” and its three sounds, students practiced reading words and sorting word cards into those three sound groups. Students then...
Building Routine and Resilience with High School Students
Written by Ashton Plette High school is a critical time in a student’s life, marked by significant growth in social, emotional, and academic domains. They are learning to navigate complex social landscapes while simultaneously forming their identities and learning to manage their emotions. It’s a time of increased independence, but also a period where teens feel a heightened need for acceptance and belonging. For some students, this time can be...
Learn By Doing: Literacy Drills
A key component of our Structured Literacy Workshop is hands-on experience. Attendees observe Chartwell teachers in action and practice the same literacy drills. This combination of practice and observation provides a strong foundation for successful drill implementation in their own classrooms. Watch the videos below to see Jodi demonstrate the drill and Chartwell teacher Dan Rhoads bring it to life in the classroom. Jodi is demonstrating to...
Strategies from the Classroom: Starting the School Year Off Right
Creating a positive and productive classroom environment requires an approach that prioritizes both structure and connection. By collaborating with students to establish clear expectations, the classroom can be a safe, empowering, and engaging learning environment from the very beginning of the year. Billy Swift, director of student support at Chartwell, shares some of his key tips for positively connecting with students and setting them up...
Instilling Literacy Confidence in Secondary Students
Jennifer Gygax, Literacy Program Specialist, Special Education, Napa Valley Unified School District, never imagined that her career would be spent teaching secondary students how to read, but when she was called to do so and saw firsthand how many secondary students had been left behind in the world of literacy, she jumped at the opportunity. Read about Jennifer’s career and experiences as a secondary teacher and literacy coach, and how working...
Stories From The Educators Who Are Transforming Literacy Instruction
The Lead to Literacy grant has sparked a movement across California to transform the way we teach students. Educators from Napa County, Riverside County, and Siskiyou County joined us for the third summer this June at CTI’s Structured Literacy training. After five days of hands-on literacy instruction and classroom observations, these educators are ready to continue their work to inform secondary literacy instruction. “The Lead to Literacy...
How to Tie a Shoe: Lessons in Executive Functioning
When I was first learning about Executive Functioning (EF), a question was posed to me and others who were involved in a training on how to best support students to develop their EF skills. The question asked was: How many steps are involved in tying a shoe? This led us to think deeply about the steps, how they might be different depending on the style of tying a shoe, factors or barriers that could impede one from doing it effortlessly, etc....
Advocating for Professional Development Opportunities
Justifying professional development opportunities can be a challenge, and a prohibiting factor, for many educators. In schools across the country, remaining within budget is an issue whether it’s public, private, or charter. Though it may be intimidating, or perhaps you think your administration will deny your request, here are our tips for how to justify professional development opportunities outside your organization (like CTI!). ...
Transforming Literacy: Introducing Heart Words Strategy for High-Frequency Words
In the realm of early elementary reading instruction, mastering high-frequency words, often called sight words, stands as a critical milestone in a child's journey toward literacy. These words, often considered non-phonetic or irregular, present a unique challenge for teachers. Early readers simply must be able to read these kinds of words to achieve fluency, but how do we best teach them? One approach gaining traction in classrooms is the...
The Latest in Teacher Training Research
NPR published an article in February 2024 about the lack of research-based methodology that’s used in teacher training programs across the country. Close to 700 teacher training programs were surveyed and they found that roughly 25% of teachers who leave those programs are teaching students how to read in a way that’s aligned with science and research. Strategies like “three-cueing” are becoming more and more popular in teacher training...
Strategies from the Classroom: Making Online Learning Successful
While I used to teach live in person on campus at Chartwell, I now teach remotely via Zoom, so my classroom looks a bit different than most. I currently teach only high school students. There are many successful strategies I use in my Zoom room but with high school students, I find the single most important one is building a positive...
District Partnership Testimonial: Tana Piersall, principal of Etna Elementary, SVUSD
Tana Piersall, principal of Etna Elementary School from Scott Valley Unified School District, shares how the statewide Lead to Literacy grant and two years of partnering with CTI have provided students with research-based instruction that is drastically improving reading scores and confidence in the classroom. As engaged participants in the statewide Lead to Literacy and Get Reading Right literacy initiatives, Scott Valley Unified is making a...
Strategies from the Classroom: Occupational Therapy Lens
Chartwell’s occupational therapists, Lisa Benjamin, and Katlyn Bach, share their insight into how occupational therapy can be used both in and out of the classroom. Their strategies for success, from the occupational therapy lens, include screen-free activities that are both fun and functional, tips for using flexible seating that is optimal for students’ profiles, and how to engage in productive playtime that promotes social interaction. Find...
Insight from Napa County Office of Education
Napa County Office of Education has been a district partner of Chartwell Teaching Institute for many years, and we are proud to have collaborated with them in a way that has been so impactful. NCOE shares insight into their success in the classroom as a result of partnering with CTI. The Chartwell Teacher Institute has undeniably equipped our middle and high school teachers with invaluable knowledge and skills, enabling them to effectively...
Strategies from the Classroom
Chartwell educator, Meghan Sanchez, shares her successful strategies for keeping students engaged while honing their reading comprehension skills. In my classroom, I've discovered a successful strategy for keeping students engaged is by creatively incorporating Humanities content into our Language Arts class novels. By selecting graphic novels that delve into historical nonfiction, each reading assignment becomes a captivating journey through...
Instructor Spotlight: Chantel Touryan-Schaefer
Associate director, Chantel Touryan-Schaefer shares about her journey to joining the CTI team, why she's passionate about her work, and her resource recommendations for educators and reading specialists. My journey from a classroom teacher to a reading specialist is a testament to my deep-seated passion for literacy and the profound impact that reading can have on a student's life. As a classroom teacher for nearly fifteen years, I had the...
