Australian Educators Learn from UMaine-Based Literacy Partnership Coaches
Contact: Marcia Nye Boody, (207) 581-2481, George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — Five literacy educators from Queensland, Australia arrived in Bangor this week to learn first-hand about the work that the Maine Literacy Partnership (MLP) provides to Maine schools.
The University of Maine-based partnership is a comprehensive literacy model dedicated to increasing student reading and other communication skills.
The Australian teachers and reading specialists are visiting this week with UMaine College of Education and Human development faculty members and visiting local schools to see how the comprehensive literacy model works. They’ve been learning first-hand how designated “literacy coaches” work with and support K-6 teachers, according to Marcia Nye Boody, director of the Maine Literacy Partnership.
The Australian team visited Kenduskeag Elementary School, Bradford Elementary School and Central Maine’s Benton Elementary School this week to work with and observe teachers and literacy coaches. On Friday, the Australian educators observed Maine Literacy Partnership training classes with coaches-in-training on the Orono campus. Coaches-in-training from the schools visit UMaine on a monthly basis.
The Australian team appreciated the chance to see how the literacy coaching concept works, according to a literacy specialist and reading recovery teacher from Queensland.
“I feel so privileged to join my colleagues on this study tour and I look forward to taking back any new ideas that will assist me to coach teachers as we work to attain higher literacy outcomes for all students,” says Amanda Wilkens of Calamvale Community College.
The visit was arranged as a result of a relationship between Mary Rosser, director for professional development and a UMaine trainer for Reading Recovery within the College of Education and Human development, and a former colleague who is part of the visiting Australian team.
Boody says she and the Australian teachers are discussing the possibility of another visit to continue the literacy coach training.
Under the MLP model, each affiliated school employs a literacy coach who supports teachers as they continue to refine their literacy teaching. The support takes the form of on-site graduate-level courses, continued professional development sessions, one-on-one coaching with teachers, and demonstration lessons. Maine Literacy Partnership schools enjoy a consolidated effort toward school improvement through a collaborative and ongoing relationship with the state Department of Education and the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development.