 there to share this out so we will record. So we just want to talk about letters today and really I plan on this being very informal and just for you guys as a chance to answer to ask questions and I may or may not be able to answer them but I can sure try. Letters is you know this book here and then there are online online modules that you go through it's been it's been great to be going through it great learning and I think you know for right now as far as opportunities for next year training I think you know our plan is that we have be able to offer a cohort at ESU 8 but that would be up in the air a little bit because the facilitator training that I'm planning to attend would happen this summer in Colorado and that honestly it may or may not happen they may be able to provide it this evening I just don't know the answer to that for sure yet. The cohort through Nebraska MTSS though should be a definite go for next year. The only thing with that one is that you know you we sent out the document where you would apply and that needs to be returned to Mary Jo Ecclerose I can't think of her last name but it's on there by March 31st and it's not a lot to fill out it was a pretty easy thing to fill out. They cover half the cost of your materials through that and then there's no cost for training to you except your district would be paying the subs for those four days. The only the only thing with that is they haven't yet set where those four training dates would be held so there is one training date for each unit of letters so you have units one two three and four so there's one training date for each of those that's on-site training and so when we asked about that it sounded like it was going to be they'll see who all their participants are and they will have it you know geographically across the state so there will be some travel involved depending on your location like I was thinking well for my location where I live if they have one in Lincoln I can probably or Omaha I can drive from my house to that it wouldn't involve a hotel stay for me probably but then if they go out west which you would think they might for one you know there's probably going to be a hotel and some travel costs sorry no that's okay so I just think you may need somebody to question that would be the only probably additional fee with the Nebraska MTSS project and then for our ESC rate cohort hopefully we're able to offer that next year the cost there would be you know the cost of the materials your district would be paying and then the cost of subs but travel would be we would be holding those in newly and when I talked to contact at Soakers West last week about kind of timing these out because I know subs are so hard to come by we talked about maybe trying to hold one training so we talked about a couple different options one would be well what if we only held what if we waited to start because you know the beginning of the year is so busy for teachers what if we waited to start and then we held at least one of the sessions kind of after the school year is over so then you'd be only out of your districts for three days then when I talked to him he said really if you were going to because there are a bridge to practice activities for each session within each unit you have a bridge to practice activity and what that is is it takes what you've learned in that session and it's an activity that you're going to be doing with students or with a lesson that you're teaching or something like that and so he said you know really the first unit completing that one when teachers aren't with students would be easier than completing a later unit because of the bridge to practice activities and I hadn't thought about that so then he and I talked about the possibility of starting earlier in the year and maybe if we could get you your materials but again with with all this virus thing going on I don't know but that's probably what we'd be looking at so we'd be looking at trying to get you get you your materials maybe during the summer and then trying to hold a training session early in August so one of the days would be then and then maybe two during the school year and then maybe one after school is out in May so maybe we'd only be looking at two days for steps and he said that would be fine to space those out during the year that would be totally fine to do it that way so you know timing-wise I guess we don't know exactly the answers to that but just kind of some options that we're looking at what have you for the MPSS one I just wanted to comment that it's also not guaranteed if you apply it's an application process so they're only taking six per region we have three ESUs in our region but we'd still if that's the option you'd like to go we still like people but just letting you know it's not a for-sure thing if you right right yeah and so six across our three ESUs and that's ESU one eight and seventeen so we have no way to predict who would be applying or how many from those other ESUs so definitely it would not be a guarantee yes thank you for pointing that out Tony as far as as you guys are thinking about questions as far as the content goes you know I just wanted to share a few things that I think have been really you know as I thinking about going through letters and why it would be good for teachers to go through it you know teachers matter more to the student success than any program that they're using or any aspect of schooling it's the teacher that really makes the difference so when we when we make sure that our teachers are educated in the science of reading it really makes a difference in in the teaching and in the outcomes for students and you know there was some research in the program about you know I don't know somewhere around 29% maybe of teacher preparation programs really only prepare teachers on all all of the big five areas of reading you know so there is some more learning to do and plus you know when I went through my teacher education training well that's been a few years ago and so there is definitely new research and so the thing about letters is that you know it's it's updated content based on research it really bridges that research into your practical classroom activities you can apply it to any reading program that that you're using any intervention program you can just make it stronger by using what you're learning in letters to build up what you're already doing those bridge to practice activities that go along with each session really help you to transfer what you've learned in the program to your classroom practice and so I'll just give you a little bit of an overview so like I don't know if you viewed any of the video the video that we sent out or the handout or anything but so you get a letters in the annual and that's your main material that you have and then there's also an online learning platform so there's four units in this volume and then there's also volume two which is units five through eight and within each unit there are eight sessions so like right now I'm a little bit behind in my teaching honestly so I'm not quite exactly on track but so right now this is where I'm at and you can see there are activities to do in the book as you go along to there's activities to do plus your reading your reading information and you're reading research so like all kinds of research things in here so you read and then also then you have this online learning platform and so for each session the reading it the amount of time I would say it varies for each session but I usually probably figure the reading part of the manual and doing you know the work that's involved in there probably takes 30 to 45 minutes somewhere around there some are longer some are shorter you know I would say the reading part wouldn't take you an hour but it could take you up to 45 minutes probably and then the online part also for each session it gives you as you open it up online then it shows you about how long you would allow for that session or how long it takes it would probably take you and so usually they're around an hour some are longer some are a little bit shorter but it's usually around an hour online and that's just the online part and then you also have your bridge to practice activity outside of that some of the sessions I don't know I think the longest was probably an hour and a half maybe and some are shorter 50 minutes you can do part of the online it it it stops in the middle of a lesson if you're like oh I have 15 minutes I could quick do part of it but I can't do all of it you can do that you can do a little bit here and there it saves your progress as you go along and you're not just watching online they there's video clips and then there's activities for you to do so it takes what you've read and it explains it more it also shows you what it would look like in a classroom so there's clips of teachers so you can see oh they talked about in the book this alphabet art activity what does that look like they talk about orthographic mapping what does that look like so it shows you in action what it looks like and then it shows you what it might look like in the lesson and then usually that's your bridge to practice activity is using it then in your own lesson or with kids there is also a test that you take at the end of each session after you've read and viewed the content online then the last thing that you do is you take a check for understanding it's called in there they're not that long and if you don't get you know a certain grade you can retake it there are multiple choice it's not like you're filling in answers or anything but some of those are more difficult than others some are a little bit tricky but you know teaching reading is tricky though so that's kind of what the online looks like I really like the mix of it so the the reading and the online part is just it's a really good way to learn and it's just so flexible you could do it anytime you know if I do my reading outside of school then if I think I might have time over lunch then I might try to jump onto the website over lunch and you know watch a little bit here and there but otherwise I do it mostly in the evenings is when I've been doing it but it's just been really really good learning so I would some of my top learning highlights that going through unit one or through on volume one really learning more about advanced phonemic awareness and Dr. David Kilpatrick's work a lot of talk about the continuum of phonemic awareness activities and how that relates to and how how phonemic awareness relates to orthographic mapping and building those reading skills for kids a lot of learning on the major types of reading difficulties including dyslexia errors specific to English language learners so a lot of good information about English language learners in there too learning about areas phases of word reading development and how that relates to kids and kind of being able to see where kids might be in that developmental process so those have been kind of some of my highlights as I've gone through. Does that spark any other any questions from you guys about any part of it? Would you say that what you're learning can be like used in interventions or just for a classroom teacher or group learning like we do sound partners EIR are some of the things you're learning could they be applied to those interventions with the one-on-one or in that kind of setting? Absolutely and I've actually done some you know where I've had some of my some resource teachers or special education teachers or title teachers or intervention teachers hi in some way that they're stuck like this kid is really stuck on this particular thing and so we I've helped them use some of this material to build up some component of what they're doing. I have as some students who've been really stuck in their reading intervention and so related to this but I also got some other information from Dr. Phil Patrick and so you know we've built in some advanced phonemic awareness which most of our programs don't go enough go far enough in phonemic awareness activities and so you know we're incorporating that into the first part of before they even start their intervention and so trying to see if we can make some games with kids in those days yeah definitely. It would really apply to all yeah classroom intervention definitely both mm-hmm. Is this something that like we can get credits for? I'm working toward a degree right now I mean it sounds like a class. It is and you know I have not checked into that a ton but it is something we need to look more more into and we were talking about that Steph and Tony and I and then kind of the COVID happened so but I my husband's niece has been going through letters at her school in Blair and she is using it as an elective for her master's through Dome. I don't know if other colleges also would accept it but don't have and I don't know exactly the logistics of that so we'd have to look at that further but yeah I would think so. Okay yeah I could check in with my college too. Okay yep. Can just if we're not an MTSS school yeah Superintendent I can still do it though as just as a teacher. Yes that's my first inning. And then as like the lingo and stuff I mean it's not okay just like she said just the title teacher is using it or do I really got to get K through six staff on board with it you know what I'm saying for the these kids. Yeah and that's that was a question that another district had asked too like are we looking at should we just send one person through it or should we you know I think ideally we'd have multiple people trained in a district but I think maybe as we look at getting our feet wet maybe you maybe if you can have one or two people go through together I think that would be great. I think what what other places have seen happen is that they might send one or two people through and then those people share all that they're learning and then it's like oh we do need all of our K through the K through three teachers to go through this. So I think either way but I think you know learning more about the science of reading is important and when I was talking to it would be important for all teachers. When I was talking to the gentleman that I was talking to at Sobrus I was trying to ask because I wasn't totally clear because I haven't gone through volume two yet. So I'm in volume one now and he said well volume two goes more into vocabulary and reading writing connection and connecting oral language and vocabulary to reading and how important it is that kids have those skills to text driven comprehension those kinds of things but you don't go through unit two separately. You have to go through unit one in order to go or volume one in order to go through volume two. So it's not like volume one is for K two and then volume two is for three through twelve or whatever. He said really it's going through all of it together to learn about the science of reading. You know it's okay to go through volume one only but you cannot go through volume two only and so that was just something else that I just found out as well and they say you know it and I would see this too it's definitely applicable for really all teachers of reading and language arts reading and writing especially in those elementary years and then they talk about intervention teachers all the way up through 12th grade. Because you know we do have kids in the very early years. Other questions? My alerts keep going now if I was trying to meet them. Hey Tina I think too I mean it's like everything you wanted to know about reading but weren't taught in college. Like I think about vast reading methods and just the things that we're missing and I think every teacher would benefit from this and we hear from our colleagues at other ESUs that teachers have been teaching for like 20 years go through this program and they're like oh my god why didn't I do this sooner? Why didn't I have this information? You know it's the essentials that we should all have. We're gonna teach little kids especially but I think even as they get older we have those kids that are missing those skills and you know it has such valuable information to teach them to read too. I mean I agree with the other and that's what I want to do. I didn't know if if I could come by myself if I can't get in you know sometimes when things are offered you have to bring a team. Yeah this isn't this isn't one of those things you can definitely attend one person for a district or a team is fine. Okay that's well I'll keep my fingers crossed but I don't know I'm gonna try sharing my screen real quick just to show you what the pacing guide looks like. This would not be your pacing guide or anything for next year but this is just kind of what a pacing guide looks like so they actually send you a pacing guide. We'll see if I can get it to work. Okay can you guys see that pacing guide up there? Are you able to see it? So how it works is you work through unit one all the different sessions and then you complete a unit one assessment and this is just suggested it's it's like a college pacing guide you know they're just suggesting this might be where you're at to let you know if you're behind or not and then you have your unit one in-person training as the post unit training that's where you gather together to do that one day in-person training after each unit so these were mine was at the bottom and then unit two is the same thing you go through all the different sessions and then you have that post unit training together and then unit three and then unit four so just kind of letting you guys know what that looks like. They suggest that you allow a week for each session. Okay I'm gonna go ahead and take that off of there. Okay other questions that you have? Kathy are there certain age levels of kids you need to work with while you go through? You know not necessarily. They just kind of say to find you know you can find students that would apply to kids. The thing that I've had to work through a little bit for me just with my job position would be like for the last couple ones have been looking at a phonics lesson and so borrowing materials from someone to look at that phonics lesson and then maybe talking with the teacher about adjusting that phonics lesson. So not really if you didn't have the materials exactly there are ways to work around that too but no not not necessarily certain ages of kids that you need to work with. Are there other? Why do you guys need everyone registered by for the ESU one? Well I think I put in the email May 1st and again I you know that would just be probably we're not charging anything at this point so it just be kind of getting people to sign up and see that we have enough for a cohort and then looking at what that hopefully getting the training done and then trying to get a piecing schedule set up for next year would be kind of our first steps. Yeah and then the only cost for ours is the materials and enough to cover for lunches those days so. Right and for the MTSS one with the state they didn't tell us the date of when they would know their applicants did they? I don't think they did. Not that I saw I had asked Mary Jo a little bit and I thought she said they were hoping early to mid April to get back to people but again I think that those dates are all I'm very up in the air right now probably just because they might have other things that they're dealing with but. And I thought you know I'm Tony they came in and had a meeting with us and I thought they told us and it back to some old dates but I thought that's something I could email about just to see I mean the dates for the actual sessions. Oh okay yeah. Yeah I would just say I mean it's as far as the one or two years can you sign up for the first year and then wait and decide on the second year or okay. Yep absolutely mm-hmm yep you know I would just say it's really been probably some of the greatest learning that I've had about reading honestly. You know you can do your own reading and you can you know if I were just reading the manual but having that online and then the in-person days has just really it really just solidifies it where you can see oh that's what it looks like in action that's what that means maybe I've even read about that before but I didn't exactly see it in action you know and and there's just more and more research so one example would be orthographic mapping so I've read about orthographic mapping before but until I really saw how they lay it out in the manual and then in the video presentations and then going to the in-person day it's like oh gosh I get it now you know we're just reading it on my own it was kind of hard to make the actual connection to what it might look like now I know what it looks like and I know what it sounds like and I know how to do it and so it just and then that's everything that you learn in there it just really you know solidifies it rather than I just read about it and now maybe I know how what that means but maybe I don't well you you know it you know it when you're done because of the the video and the extra things that you do it just really makes makes it where you know what is meant by what you read I just want to say like I'm super excited to be able to attend this just to add to my background knowledge in the job I do but one of the things if I was a teacher that might be overwhelming hearing is the added on work maybe at night or so forth and I know you said you did a lunch or after school but I would think your district would be okay with since this is for your school and not just yourself for a college class I would think they'd be okay with you doing it during your plan time or before after school if you had an in-service or you know a training day open so those type of things might be open for you to catch up like if they had a day at school or something and I I probably didn't you know were they lay out a week for you to complete that whole session and if you figure it's probably gonna take you if you figure two hours I didn't always do a little bit every night but it'd be very easy to do a little bit every night and it really wouldn't be that much every night that you're doing I was probably more like I'm going to sit down and do the reading one night or one day and sometimes that was a weekend too you know I'm gonna sit down and do the reading part I found that worked better for me if I read first and then I watched the online content and I could break the online content up a little bit and then I tried to do the test right away while I had it all fresh in my mind and then the bridge to practice after that so if the bridge to practice went into the next week well that's okay I was working on my next session you know but I think you know where they have it paced out for you it does really give you quite a bit of time but it is a time commitment definitely but there is time to get those things done definitely other questions if you do think of other questions or your administrators have questions you know Tony stuff or I are available anytime you know via email via zoom via phone call whatever works best for you guys so really anytime anything that pops up just shoot us an email I think the intent with recording this today is that will then send it out to the same group that we invited so administrators and reading leaders in districts with and get the recording so as you're talking about things with those people if they weren't able to be in person if things come up just you know shoot us an email for question or a zoom session or whatever would work best thank you guys for attending thank you so much hope it works to do it yeah wash your hands don't get close to people all those good things thank you bye