October 2022
ORTIi News & Updates

Our team recently had a mini retreat to recenter us on our work after a busy summer and fall of transition logistics. We took some time in the morning to reflect on ORTIi's vision and mission and asked ourselves, "Is this still the work?"


Our vision:
Every child in every district will receive the instruction and support they need and deserve every day in order to become a reader.

Our Mission:
ORTIi will work to cultivate the capacity of each school district community to build and sustain comprehensive multi-level systems of prevention and support that identify and serve the literacy instructional needs of each and every child.

Yes, this is still who we are! This newsletter is just a small part of our capacity building mission. Thanks for reading!

The ORTIi team,

Beth, Nicole, Lisa, Ryan and Jon
Registration is now open!

The ORTIi Team welcomes you to join us for the 2nd Annual ORTIi Reading Symposium

You can now register for our free, virtual half day event on December 8th, 2022 from 8:00-12:15 PT. We hope you will be able to attend live, but if that does not work for your situation, all sessions will be recorded and available on our website within days of the conference.

Although we do have a registration link HERE, it is not essential that you register if you do not plan to attend live. The registration information just helps us know if we need bigger Zoom licenses for the live event.

The digital program with the session Zoom links will be sent out to everyone before the conference. After the conference, the digital program will have the YouTube links for the session. If you get this newsletter, you will get the digital program and you may share it - please do!
The In-Person Annual Conference is BACK!

We are excited to announce that we are partnering with NWPBIS for a joint conference to meet all your MTSS needs. The conference will be held at the Hilton Portland Downtown, April 26-28, 2023.

Click here to access the conference information page, including registration information.
Curious about the keynote presenter for the
Virtual Reading Symposium?

Emily Hanford has brought the discussion about the need to change how we teach reading from just conversations in schools to everyone. She is a senior correspondent for American Public Media. Her work has appeared on NPR and in The New York Times, Washington Monthly, The Los Angeles Times and other publications. For the past several years, Emily has been reporting on early reading instruction. Her 2018 podcast episode “Hard Words: Why aren’t kids being taught to read?” won a public service award from the Education Writers Association. You can find all of her reporting on reading at apmreports.org/reading, including her podcast, Sold a Story: How teaching kids to read went so wrong (soldastory.org) which will be released later this month. Emily is based in Washington, D.C.
Moving Away from Guided Reading
Dr. Stephanie Stollar
(Audience: ALL elementary staff)

If you are moving away from guided reading groups based on reading levels to differentiated small group instruction based on reading skills, you will love this 6 minute explanation about the distinction between the two types of reading groups. As always, Dr. Stollar explains things so clearly! If you visit her Reading Science Academy you can find additional resources for small group instruction and much more!
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Dyslexia Awareness Month:
Using the Science of Reading to Support Students with Dyslexia
(Audience: Teachers and Leaders)

As part of Amplify's Dyslexia Awareness Month offerings, this recent webinar with Jan Hasbrouck, is about the instruction students with dyslexia need in order to become proficient readers (hint: it's the same thing all people need to become readers - just more explicit and systematic instruction, more opportunities to practice and more feedback). This is a great overview of Structured Literacy for teachers new to it and a great reminder for those of us who are not.

Focused implementation: Doing less to do more with Dr. Doug Reeves
Science of Reading: The Podcast (S6 E3)
(Audience: School and District Leaders)

Rebooting your District Implementation Team this fall? Don't have a team yet? Here's a great resource for leaders regardless of what you are implementing or what stage you are in. Last spring we recommended the book Building to Impact. This recent podcast episode from Amplify's Science of Reading: The Podcast with one of the authors was a great reminder of why we liked the book so much! This episode has so many things to consider when coming back with your team this fall.

"Literacy Talks" Podcast
(Audience: All)

We have found another great podcast! Each episode of the Literacy Talks podcast has really practical applications for how you teach reading in your classroom, regardless of the level you teach - kindergarten through adults.

If you want to start with a very special episode, check out their recent conversation with Anita Archer. She discusses the elements of explicit instruction. Even if you have heard her multiple times, you can always hear something amazing and new.

Click here to find the episode with Dr. Anita Archer

Click here to find all the episodes of Literacy Talks
ORTIi Resources For Your Professional Learning Needs
New This Fall!

Does your PD plan for the year include staff training on the components of MTSS? We've got you covered! We now have a facilitation guide for the Overview and Tier 1 Modules. Look for facilitation guides for Tiers 2 and 3 coming this winter.

If you are in an Oregon school district, you can schedule a Facilitated Team Time with an ORTIi coach to ask questions and/or discuss any action plan your team creates after watching the modules.

Email us at [email protected] to schedule a session.


Other Professional Learning Resources

Need some high quality professional learning? ORTIi's has resources! Just visit our Video Recordings and Modules page. These videos give you access to an amazing array of experts in the fields of reading and MTSS.