Teachers tell board Reading & Writing Project PD increased engagement and helped tailor instruction

At a Monroe Public Schools work session, several classroom teachers described concrete changes they made after participating in Reading & Writing Project Network professional development last year, from shorter mini‑lessons to targeted phonics checks.

Ashley Cornett, a sixth‑grade teacher at Arborwood, said student engagement rose and students began talking about reading outside class: “I saw that student engagement increased as we went throughout the year, and they just displayed a much greater enthusiasm for reading,” she told the board. Jenna Heil, a first‑grade teacher at Custer, described using a phonics decoding assessment and short decodable readers to form small groups: “With this assessment, I was actually able to tailor what the kids needed so that way I was making sure they were moving along at a pace that they should be.”

Holly Van Clinger, a 25‑year veteran who said she teaches multiple elective classes at the middle school, called vocabulary instruction a “golden ticket,” arguing that explicit vocabulary work is needed across subjects so students can access content: “If they don't understand the vocabulary, the content is far beyond them,” she said. Coaches and staff developers demonstrated lessons in classrooms and worked with teachers on pacing and rigor; district coaches said those visits led teachers to revise curriculum maps and tighten unit pacing.

Teachers and coaches said the PD gave them tools for immediate classroom implementation and ongoing coaching; staff noted decodable text sets are currently shared at the building level and recommended purchasing individual sets so each K–2 teacher has ready access.