Leaders of Literacy

Today, Samantha Statler and Becky Lewis sit down with the 2023 West Virginia Service Personnel of the Year, Jessica Grose. During this interview, we take a closer look at what makes Jessica a successful educator. She also shares some great tips on how she builds positive relationships with her teachers and students along with how she keeps her families engaged.

Today, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler sit down with the 2023 West Virginia Teacher of the Year, Amber Nichols. During this interview, we take a closer look at what makes Amber a successful educator. Not only does she share some great insight into her classroom practices, but she also shares her passion for education and helping her students achieve success.

During today’s episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss the five R’s for promoting positive family engagement which include: respect, reassurance, responsiveness/relationships, reciprocity, and reflection. Not only do they talk about what each of these five R’s means, but they also share strategies you can use in your classroom to help strengthen each of these components.

In this month’s Leaders of Literacy podcast episode, Becky and Sam continue their conversation around building positive culture and community in the classroom. This is an important task for all educators, and it truly sets the tone for the learning environment for the rest of the school year. Joining them for this conversation is lead Pre-K Teacher, Claire McCoy. Claire shares some great insight on strategies she uses to create norms and procedures in her classroom along with activities for...

Tune in to this episode as hosts, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss the importance of building classroom culture. The resource they use for this episode is the book High Impact Instruction- A Framework for Great Teaching written by Jim Knight. Samantha and Becky walk you through the five recommendations Jim offers in this text which are: co-construct norms with your students, reinforce students when they act consistently with the norms, spread learner-friendly emotions, design a...

Tune in to this episode as hosts, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss teacher clarity. Not only do they discuss what it is, but they also dive into why it is important and how you can ensure teacher clarity in your classroom.

In this episode of the Leaders of Literacy podcast, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Samantha Statler and Amber Meyers along with special guest, Janie Merendino discuss the importance of number sense and how it can be tied back into literature in the classroom. Janie shares her experiences working in the primary classroom. and also gives insight to how she used mathematics and literature together in her instruction.

Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Samantha Statler and Brittany Fike reflect on the previous episode where they interviewed Jim Knight. During that episode, Jim referred to his latest publication, The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching: Seven Factors to Success, several times. These seven factors include: the partnership principles, communication skills, coaches as leaders, the impact cycle, data, the instructional playbook, and system support. These ladies talk in-depth...

Since the pandemic hit, educational leaders are making every effort to develop and implement new strategies to better support educators and students in all areas of education. As a result, over the past year or two, there has been a significant rise in interest around instructional coaching as an option to address these needs. Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Samantha Statler and Brittany Fike speak with special guest Jim Knight to discuss instructional coaching and how to...

Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler have a follow up discussion from the previous episode which focused on expanding student learning through strong community partnerships. To get a closer look at a strong community-school partnership, they hosted Marian Clowes. Marian is the associate director for community leadership at the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation. She is also a key member of the Wood County Reads group that helps to promote learning...

Looking for ways to build effective school-community partnerships? In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Becky Lewis and Samantha Statler discuss the benefits and importance of forming effective school-community partnerships. Tune in to hear a little more about where you can start on your journey to building effective school-community partnerships.

Join Becky Lewis, Brandie Turner, and J.D. Maue, as they discuss how the Early and Elementary Technical Assistance Center (EL TAC) and Marshall University's June Harless Center can support districts and educators throughout the state with their summer learning programs.

Join Becky Lewis, Brandie Turner, and Christy Schwartz, as they discuss the engaging, hand-on activities that West Virginia Students experienced last year as a part of the Summer SOLE Grant Program. Christy shares tips and ideas that districts can take into consideration as they plan their upcoming summer learning programs.

In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists Becky Lewis and Danielle Irby interview Leslie Summers. Leslie works in the WVU Extension Office and discusses some of the extended learning services that are available through the WVU Extension Office. Leslie primary focus is on positive youth development by offering programs to Cabell County students.

In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Becky Lewis and Danielle Irby, talk with Keisha Runion, the Science, STEAM, Computer Science, and Social Studies coordinator in Early and Elementary Services in the Office of Teaching and Learning at the WV Department of Education about incorporating STEAM into extended learning opportunities. Not only do these ladies discuss the importance of afterschool STEAM programs, but they also provide the latest findings and research in West...

In this episode, Early and Elementary Learning Specialists, Sam Statler and Kerri Templeton, are joined by Paula Stewart, an Infant/Toddler Specialist. Paula brings light to the importance of a toddler’s social and emotional well-being. She also shares several strategies a caregiver could use during their daily routine to help foster the learn.

Not sure how to work on school readiness skills with an infant or toddler? Tune in to hear from three of the Early and Elementary Learning Specialists as they discuss how you can help support language and literacy skills, thinking skills, and even help instill self-confidence in our young learners. Believe it or not, it is through daily routines with your infant that you can help to build foundational milestones. Reading together, having back-and-forth conversations, and even letting them...

Using project work to integrate early literacy and early math in your classroom may sound like a daunting task, but allowing your students interests to be heard and exploring them more in depth can make learning fun AND engaging. If you have been debating using project work in your classroom, our special guest shares a plethora of suggestions and ideas from her own classroom experiences.

In our previous podcast episode, we discussed the importance of integrating early literacy and numeracy. In this episode, early and elementary learning specialists Becky Lewis, Sam Statler, and Amber Myers discuss the “how” of integrating these two topics as it pertains to early educators and other childcare providers serving children from birth to age six.

Tune in to listen to special guest Kristy Ritz discuss how community organizations can support families with early childhood development.