Greetings from Oregon Response to Instruction and Intervention
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As you take some time to exhaleafter this challenging year, we hope you take the opportunity to celebrate the amazing things you have done in the past 15 months or so.
We have seen districts improve partnerships with parents and caregivers, figure out how to collect and use reading data, think outside the box about ways to deliver reading interventions, include access data in data-based decision making, and much, much more. All of this while also feeding all students, providing devices and internet, going back and forth between modes of instruction and keeping students and staff safe. PHEW!
Thank you for all you have done for the students you serve.
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A Few More Goodbyes at ORTIi
Last month we let you know that Dr. David Putnam would be retiring and that Brad Thorud will be taking over as the director of ORTIi. This month, we bring you more updates about our team:
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Implementation Coach Shelby DiFonzo, who also serves at Ontario School District's District Initiatives and Special Programs Coordinator is taking a position with Fargo (ND) Public Schools starting July 1st. She will be the Assistant Director of Special Education. We will miss Shelby's perspective as a person in a district office, as a parent of teens, as a person living in eastern Oregon, and also just as a really amazing colleague who has been supporting Oregon schools and districts for a long time.
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Webmaster, social media and tech support expert, and administrative assistant Jamie Maier will be leaving our team (though thankfully not our building) to take a newly created position in the TIgard-Tualatin School District. She will be the Assistive Technology Specialist starting July 1st. We all know this is the perfect role for her, but it will be sad to no longer have her a part of our every day office crew.
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We wish all of you a happy and safe summer and look forward to our continued work with all of you in the 2021-2022 school year.
The ORTIi Team: Shelby, Jamie, David, Brad, Jon, Lisa, Nicole, Beth, and Christie
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Save the Dates
ORTIi Annual Spring Conference
Audience: All
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ORTIi Fall Virtual Reading Symposium
Audience: Elementary Teachers & Leaders, Secondary Reading Teachers
You may have just finished watching all of the 2021's Annual Conference series (click here for access to the session videos), but you can already begin making plans to attend the next Annual Conference on April 28-29, 2022 at the Hilton Portland Downtown. Many of the sessions will be live-streamed and recorded, but we are planning on a great, in-person event!
But you don't need to wait until spring to keep learning! We are bringing together another great group of presenters for our half-day Fall Virtual Reading Symposium in October. The sessions we have lined up will give teachers and leaders great ideas for ways to shift and fine-tune reading practices so that we can teach each and every student how to read. And the best part is... It will once again be free!
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Ready For A Deeper Study of Reading?
(Audience: Elementary Teachers, Principals, Middle School Reading Teachers)
In the past few months, a few of the ORTIi coaches have been taking a variety of online courses in Reading Instruction. While we cannot officially endorse any particular course, we have compiled a list of the ones we have attended. The courses on our list vary in price, number of sessions, credit availability, whether or not they are on the ODE list of approved dyslexia training, and other features, but they all align with what science tells us is effective reading instruction. Additionally, there are certainly other offerings out there that we did not check out. Click here to see our list. Have you taken any great online courses about reading instruction? Let us know what you thought of it so we can build our knowledge base.
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Only have a few minutes? Check out Small Steps to Getting Started With The Science Of Reading
(Audience: Elementary Teachers and Leaders)
Do you only have capacity right now for short bursts of information about important key shifts in reading instruction? If so, check out these 4 short videos from Stephanie Stoller called Small Steps to Getting Started With The Science Of Reading. This series covers Read Alouds, Decodable Texts, High Frequency Words, and Prompts, Not Cues. We love the way Stephanie explains things so clearly.
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What's on our minds?
Visit our Padlet to see what the ORTIi staff have been reading, watching or listening to lately. You can like, comment, and also make suggestions on the Padlet!
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