Teachers are challenged by the diversity within elementary and middle school classrooms. Students learn essential literacy skills and concepts at different rates and in different ways, but all students follow the same path and pass through the same developmental phases as they progress in their literacy learning. First Steps® provides the framework for teachers to identify each student's phase of development and offer the appropriate support and learning strategies to move them from one phase to the next.
There's a brand new First Steps® Canadian Edition with updated content and strands, new comprehensive Maps of Development, a new Overview Resource, and Canadian writing examples and case studies.
This new edition of First Steps® is the result of over a decade of reflection by practising teachers, and it draws upon contemporary research and developments in the field of literacy learning. The New First Steps® in Literacy makes practical connections between assessment, teaching, and learning clearer and more explicit, and caters to diverse needs within a classroom.
The professional development courses and the accompanying print resources provide a whole-school approach to improving students' literacy outcomes. Each strand of First Steps® Canadian Edition consists of a course as well as two print resources and accompanying CD-ROMs.
Quality Professional Learning
Build's teachers' awareness of the developmental phases of learning
Supports differentiated instruction by identifying learner strengths
Empowers schools and districts to deliver unlimited professional development within a "Building Capacity Model"
The Map of Development enables teachers to assess the development of students and to link appropriate instruction to phases of development. A comprehensive range of practical teaching and learning experiences is provided at each phase to document students' growth.
A Resource Book offers concise theory and practical ideas for enhancing teaching practice.
CD-ROMs provide teachers with recording sheets and a range of modifiable assessment, teaching, and learning line masters, as well as ideas to help parents support their child's literacy development.
Linking Assessment, Teaching and Learning is a companion to the First Steps® framework. It includes information applicable to all four strands of literacy, together with practical support and ideas to help teachers link assessment, teaching, and learning.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE OPTIONS
Facilitator Course - 6 Days per strand (Reading & Writing) $3500.00
Prepares teacher leaders to provide First Steps® professional development to other teachers within a district. The course introduces the participants to the resource first as a learner, then as a facilitator, within the course. The Facilitator is equipped with deeper knowledge and a higher level of expertise to deliver the professional development to teachers.
Courses that build capacity and are a cost effective way for schools and districts to deliver their own First Steps® implementation training.
Coach Course - 3 Days per strand (Reading & Writing) $995.00
The Coach course provides in-depth coverage of the new First Steps® in Literacy instructional framework. It helps build capacity in literacy coaches and teacher leaders as they support classroom teachers in effective literacy instruction, and in the implementation of First Steps® in a coaching context within a school.
Administrator Courses $3500.00 flat fee
This half-day or full-day session is specifically designed to highlight what Administrators need to know and understand to ensure the successful implementation of First Steps® in Literacy in their school. It outlines the foundational beliefs of the resource, and provides a brief overview of how the components work together. In addition, it outlines research findings on effective professional learning and suggests powerful school structures that catalyze productive teacher collaboration. It is these structures that help establish a reflective school culture with a deep focus on student learning, one that analyzes and addresses student needs with increasing precision.
For more information on Professional Courses or Resources go to www.pearsonschoolcanada.ca
