Stevenson Elementary Staff & Students Shine in Literacy Design Collaborative Showcase

It’s an educator’s dream… a school full of engaged students who come to class every day excited about learning.

Stevenson Elementary School in Florida is turing that dream into a reality as it finishes its second year of implementing a Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) instructional design system. The LDC system empowers teachers, coaches and other education leaders to build students’ literacy skills and understanding of science, history, and literature. The meaningful reading and writing assignments are aligned to the College and Career Readiness Standards, developing students’ literacy skills to prepare them for the demands of college and career.

Educators from around Florida were able to tour model classrooms recently to see in person just how well students respond to the LDC teaching approach. This post first appeared on the LDC.org blog.

Stevenson Elementary Staff & Students Shine in LDC Showcase

Jeannie Sharkey

As the 2014–2015 school year comes to a close, we are delighted to share details on what surely ranks as one of the year’s highlights: our visit to R. L. Stevenson Elementary in Merritt Island, Florida for the school’s first LDC Demonstration Day. In Year 2 of their LDC journey, Stevenson educators—led by Principal Michael Corneau and Assistant Principal Rick Sheppard—stand as shining examples of what it really means to “walk the walk.”

A hands-on instructional leader, who was first exposed to LDC during an initial orientation and training presented by the National Literacy Project / Florida Academic Literacy Network in summer 2013, Michael has guided his teachers in developing rigorous and relevant standards-based lessons that comprise a literacy-saturated curriculum. He attributes LDC with igniting the passion for teaching at Stevenson and helping teachers to “focus on a more deliberate set of practices that help students to take greater ownership of their learning through more engaging work that is much more collaborative in nature. “ (Read more about Michael’s personal LDC journey.)

Visibly proud of their school and eager to point the wealth of student work that graced school hallways, young “ambassadors” welcomed visitors to Stevenson Elementary School and guided them to the auditorium for the start of an exciting and impressive day that focused on model classroom visits. Michael Corneau greeted visitors from several Florida school districts (Hillsborough County, Indian River County, Marion County, and Brevard) and multiple states, including New York, Maryland, Colorado, and Georgia.

He thanked supporters, including National Literacy Project (NLP) Executive Director Dr. Judith Irvin and NLP Project Planner Chris Morris, LDC Chief of Instruction & Design Dr. Suzanne Simons, Director of Partnerships and Professional Learning Barb Smith, and Dr. Laura Rhinehart, North Area Superintendent. Dr. Vicky Zygouris-Coe, Professor of Reading Education at the University of Central Florida in Orlando presented the keynote address.

For more on LDC, check out:

• My Powerful LDC Moment: Susan Haines, Arkansas
• LDC School District Kenton County (KY) Cited as a “Trailblazer”

 

Jeannie Sharkey is the Communications & Marketing Director with Literacy Design Collaborative. Follow LDC on Twitter, @LitDesignCollab.

Literacy Design Collaborative is a Getting Smart Advocacy Partner