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As part of Give Kids Good Schools Week 2007, Milby High School in Houston ISD invited community members to observe and hear more about the impact of the school's efforts to infuse reading, writing, active listening and communication into every student classroom. Houston A+ Challenge co-hosted the event on October 15, 2007.
When Mary Smith started in 2003 as Literacy Coach for Houston ISD's Milby High School, the former elementary school teacher knew she had to win the confidence of the seasoned teaching staff before she could convince them of the power of using literacy strategies across the curriculum.
"I had a big bullseye on my back," she laughs now. "But then a student came to me and said, 'Can you teach me how to read?' I thought, well I'm the literacy coach for the whole school -- how can I spend all that time on just one kid? But working with him turned out to be one of the most rewarding things I've ever done -- and as an added bonus, it helped me gain credibility and open doors among my fellow teachers and many other students as well."
Smith's position at Milby is funded through a grant from Houston A+ Challenge, which since 2004 has supported literacy coaches at all of Houston ISD's comprehensive high schools as part of the Houston Schools for a New Society initiative to improve and personalize secondary education for students.
Within a two-week period, throughout the school year, she meets with every single teacher across all departments, helping them to gain new skills for building students into successful communicators and thinkers for the 21st century. Topics range from "Using the Frayer Model With Science Lab Reports" or "Factoring a Trinomial Using Technology and Literacy," to "Finding High-Interest Reading Selections on Social Studies Subjects" and "Integrating Writing into CTE Classes."
"Literacy means being able to read, write, speak, listen and think effectively in every situation, in every part of life," Smith said. "Lots of things go into our eyes and ears, but it's not until words come out of our mouths that we know what we truly believe about a subject."
As an expert in adult learning and literacy training, Smith says she thinks of the professional development she provides as "a shopping bag of strategies that teachers can use now -- not just lecturing and assigning, but challenging students to think critically and then articulate their learning." Teachers themselves now often plan and deliver the literacy lessons, and the school has set aside a learning lab for the training.
Through a visit to Milby during Give Kids Good Schools week 2007, community members got a chance to see some of these strategies in action. Participants visited more than a dozen classrooms and took notes on what they saw and heard.
Monte King from Shell Oil Company said he observed this conversation as two students exchanged essays. "One said to the other, 'I might need to change my introduction to improve this paper. This told me that the student had done some reflective thinking even before asking for input."
Doris Richardson from the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which is sponsoring Milby's new energy academy, said that when she entered each classroom, she heard "the hum of learning."
"As a retired teacher, that's music to my ears. It means the students were entirely engaged in the class."
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