NetWORDing: Exploring the Art and Science of Reading

Four brave MRU teacher candidates shared their visual stories with local teachers at netWORDing, a professional learning experience where teachers came to explore the art and science of reading, reflect upon their practice, and feel less alone as they bravely commit to educational transformation and equity.

The visual stories showcased how the teacher candidates supported young readers throughout their year two field experience, including the assessment data that demonstrated growth and informed their weekly lessons. All four of the teacher candidates expressed some apprehension about sharing their stories with experienced educators but quickly found their audiences were supportive, and “their smiles, cheers, questions, and comments demonstrated their delight and enthusiasm for our learning and highlighted how impressed they were with our knowledge and understanding of literacy instruction” wrote Jessica Cuillerier. Natalie Rupert agrees, “the supportive atmosphere left me feeling confident, inspired, and hopeful about the positive impact we can create for young learners.” Jenna Jansen was excited to share her passion for helping students with learning disabilities become strong readers.

Teacher Candidate Jessica Cuillerier Sharing her Literacy Experience Poster 

Teacher Candidate Jenna Jansen Sharing her Literacy Experience Poster 

NetWORDing was collaboratively planned, sponsored and delivered in partnership with the Mount Royal University, Calgary Board of Education, Calgary Regional Consortium, and the Rotary Club of Calgary. Nearly 200 participants attended and 20 of those were from MRU!To start the day, participants had the pleasure of listening to Natalie Meisner, MRU professor and changemaker, playwright, poet and children’s book author, who shared a beautiful tribute to her Grade 3 teacher. Here is a small snippet from Natalie’s poem…

Did you know ?
Ms. Barkhouse how badly I needed that
fat stack of books on the corner of my desk,
That seemed to keep replacing themselves as fast I could devour them?
Did you know how sweet it was
To be able to fold myself between the pages
to climb into the wardrobe, through a portal to another world
Did you know how badly I needed to climb on the back
Of a dragon, a lion, any mythical beasts, & get the heck out of town
at least for a little while?
I think you did

Following Natalie’s inspiring poem and invitation for us all to write to a memorable teacher, Dr. Lesly Wade-Woolley from the University of Alberta shared nine myths and a truth about teaching kids to read. Her informative keynote was then followed by twelve practical workshops with best instructional practices offered by nineteen local early literacy experts. These included a broad range of literacy topics with session titles such as: 

• How to Design Your Literacy Block
• From Complete to Complex Thought: Supporting Sentence Structure for Elementary Students
• A Deep Dive into Vocabulary Instruction
• Books to Build On: Indigenous Picture Books
• How to Plan Responsive Literacy Instruction Using Assessment Data
• Using Text Sets with the New Science Curriculum
• Structured Literacy Stations in a Busy Literacy Classroom
• Playful Pathways to Literacy
• And more! Click here for the complete program

MRU TC Natalie Rupert particularly valued “learning how to create text sets aligned with the new science curriculum, which will significantly benefit my upcoming STEAM practicum… and I also discovered excellent Indigenous picture books and strategies for integrating them into my teaching.” Jenna Jansen is excited by the connections she made with other participants and can't wait to learn from them in the future.

Jessica Cuillerier wrote, “The NetWORDing event was so much more than I expected it to be. The keynote speech addressed the common myths about reading and ended with an inspirational message that all students can read with our help. It was so impactful and a reminder of my why. I feel hopeful about the future, seeing so many educators gather for one cause - bettering our practices to get our students reading and ensuring that they aren't left behind.”