Welcome Back! We hope you are off to a wonderful new school year! This is our first Region 10 ELAR Newsletter of the 23-24 school year! As a reminder, we publish our newsletters on the first Monday of each month from September - May.

Any other necessary communication during the month will come through our ELAR Listserv, so be sure that you have signed up using the button at the bottom of the newsletter.

Click on the link below to see the complete list of our face to face and Zoom session offerings for Fall 23.

These sessions give teachers who have participated in and/or are participating in the reading academies the opportunities to put the content learned in the phonological awareness (6) and pre-reading (7) modules into action. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on activities related to the content they have learned or are learning related to the science of teaching reading and research-based reading instructional best practices.

Oct. 20, Nov. 10

Description: The new writing demands of the state assessments will require students to compose constructed responses to text based questions. Students’ ability to clearly answer the questions asked and select the best text evidence to support their responses will depend on the number and quality of opportunities they have to practice these vital skills. In this session, participants will gain an understanding of the new STAAR assessment requirements for constructed response questions, learn strategies to create text-based questions based on the TEKS, and help facilitate students’ abilities to compose written responses which provide appropriate text evidence.

Dates: (Sept 15 Session ID: 2656643) or (October 16 Session ID: 2656644 )

CPE: 6 hrs

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here and its effects on our future cannot be ignored. As teachers of writing, we have a responsibility to understand the implications of large language models behind programs such as ChatGPT. And, we have a responsibility to our secondary students to discuss both probable benefits and drawbacks of utilizing AI. In this one-hour Zoom session, participants will not only build a general awareness of writing-related AI, but also they will explore strategies for designing and evaluating writing assignments that honors human thought and voice over AI-generated composition.

Dates: Sept. 14th, Oct. 24th AM or PM, Nov. 9th

Have new teachers who need training on scoring STAAR Constructed Response items? Have them watch these brief videos.

SCR scoring (22-min. video)

ECR scoring (39-min video)

2023

• Grade 3
• Grade 3 Spanish
• Grade 4
• Grade 4 Spanish
• Grade 5
• Grade 5 Spanish
• Grade 6
• Grade 7
• Grade 8
• English I
• English II

For more information from TEA click here.

The following reading instruments have been reviewed and show reliable and valid measurement of the skills in the domains indicated with an X. The required domains for Grade 7 are Phonics/Word Analysis (PH/WA), Text Comprehension – Reading (TC-R), and Fluency (FL). Students must be assessed in all required domains. The vocabulary (VO) domain is recommended. Some instruments may include additional domains such as Phonological/Phonemic Awareness (P/PA), Phonics/Word Recognition (PH/WR), and Text Comprehension – Listening (TC-L). For more information click here.

List of Compliant Phonics Programs

• Districts are required to use a product that is compliant with law and rule:

• 19 TAC 74.2001(1)

• 19 TAC 74.2001(3)(A)

• Reports Posted on Texas Resource Review (TRR)

• TEA Instructional Materials & Implementation Help Desk

Check out this new section of our monthly newsletter. Here, we will highlight a podcast that we find interesting and hope that you might too. This month's podcast is Science of Reading: The Podcast. This podcast delivers the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Each episode takes a conversational approach and explores a timely topic related to the Science of Reading. Listen to the latest episode, From football to phonics with Malcolm Mitchell, below.

The Region 10 ELAR team provides literacy support through professional development services, instructional coaching, and technical assistance.

Email: chandra.shaw@region10.org
Website: https://www.region10.org/programs/english-language-arts-and-reading-program/overview/
Location: 400 East Spring Valley Road, Richardson, TX, USA
Phone: (972)348-1564
Twitter: @R10ELA

Gr K-5 Literacy Consultant

Email: pearl.garden@region10.org
Phone: 972-348-1318
Twitter: @LiteracyPearls

3-8 Literacy Consultant

Email: chandra.shaw@region10.org
Phone: 972-348-1564
Twitter: @CShawR10

6-12 Literacy Consultant

Email: jennifer.gunn@region10.org
Phone: 972-348-1080
Twitter: @GunnTexas

• September 2022
• October 2022
• November 2022
• December 2022
• January 2023
• March 2023
• April 2023