Explore Micro-Credential Offerings

Now that you have learned about the basics of syllable types (CLOVER) and how words are built, this advanced micro-credential will show ways for putting this knowledge into practice with students in the classroom. You will learn how to explicitly teach syllables in the classroom through modeling of division strategies for decoding multi-syllable words for understanding. There will also be guidance for ways to intentionally incorporate cross-content passages for authentic learning within science, social studies, and ELA text. The strategies presented in this learning plan contain high-leverage tools for equipping students with skills for decoding and understanding multi-syllable words.

Intended Audience: Grades 3-12 Educators, Interventionists

Completion Time: 3 hours

There are no prerequisites for this micro-credential. You should, however, have access to FASTBridge within the Iowa Ed Portal and have a basic understanding of that platform prior to starting this learning plan. This micro-credential should not replace the certification for proctoring the assessment within FASTBridge. This session is provided within Peardeck, where each participant will take a student-paced tour of the aReading assessment, which is a seasonal screener used in many schools for students in grades 2-12. This content will allow you to: Understand what aReading measures and how it can impact decision-making Understand the benefits and limitations of this particular assessment Analyze both Group and Individual aReading Reports Put your knowledge to use by reviewing the Screener to Intervention Report and exploring the Keystone Literacy website for planning instruction.

Intended Audience: Grade 2-12 Educators, Instructional Coaches, Reading Specialists

Completion Time: 2 hours

Participants will investigate the connections between the reading and writing processes, as well as effective strategies that motivate students during the writing process. Additionally, participants will explore two different blended learning strategies to increase small group instruction and real-time feedback. Embedded within the self-paced Pear Deck are reflections following each of the four sections of learning.

Intended Audience: Grades 2-12 educators, Literacy

Completion Time: 2 hours

The Buck Institute for Education identified 7 Gold Standard PBL Essential Design Elements of strong PBL units. Through this learning, you will explore these elements and the importance of including each in a PBL unit. Examples will be shared and you will make connection to your practice by identifying a PBL project idea you can implement in your classroom.

Intended Audience: PK-12 educators, Instructional Coaches

Completion Time: 2 hours

There are no prerequisites for this micro-credential. The participants will have access to resources that will guide them through understanding and implementing Elkonin boxes with multiple modes. Elkonin Boxes (also known as Sound Boxes) is an evidence-based scaffold and strategy to help students, particularly in the early stages of learning how to read and write, make connections between the sounds they hear and the letters and form syllables and words. This strategy is immediately applicable to students in the classroom.Objectives:Participants will have a basic understanding of what Elkonin boxes (aka Sound Boxes) are.Participants will be able to utilize Elkonin boxes with a student.

Intended Audience: K-12 Literacy

Completion Time: 2 hours

Research shows that there are long-lasted emotional impacts of students who struggle academically, particularly when they struggle to read. Effectively and efficiently teaching a child to read can alleviate the trauma and anxiety that have accumulated over years of reading struggle and failure, or prevent the trauma from happening in the first place. This 2-hour snippet of learning allows participants to learn the impacts of illiteracy, hear directly from individuals who have been affected by learning difficulties and some practical application tools to implement in the classroom.

Intended Audience: K-12 Teachers, Paraprofessionals, Instructional Coaches

Completion Time: 2 hours

This is an introduction to not only the 5 pillars of literacy, but also to the Keystone website as a support tool. This learning opportunity will ask you to engage in learning around Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension (writing support tool coming soon).

Intended Audience: Literacy Educators, Instructional Coaches who support literacy, Title One Reading Teachers, K-12 Educators

Completion Time: 3 hours

There are three key shifts that are required of teachers in teaching the Common Core State Standards of Literacy. Through this coursework you will learn about each shift and how it connects to your teaching.

Intended Audience: K-12 teachers, Administrators, Instructional Coaches

Completion Time: 2 hours

Literacy at a distance will provide two videos to view and put to use when teaching literacy remotely. In video #1, Nell K. Duke from the University of Michigan discusses how to provide phonological awareness, phonics, interactive writing, and vocabulary instruction for young children at a distance. Video #2 discusses how to provide small group literacy instruction for young children using a videoconferencing platform (Zoom), walking through a phonics lesson, a lesson that builds knowledge about food chains and flow diagrams, and ends with reflections from four instructional coaches.

Intended Audience: PK-3 Educators

Completion Time: 3 hours

Participants will engage in a PearDeck presentation, where they will engage in learning recommended by the National Reading Panel. Opportunities will be presented to engage with the learning by reading articles, watching videos, and applying of strategies directly in the classroom. Participants will learn about explicit, systematic, multi-sensory instruction and the importance of teaching letter-sound correspondences and syllable types within their phonics instruction. (No prerequisites)

Intended Audience: K-4 Elementary Literacy Teachers

Completion Time: 3 hours

Purposeful practice is more than repetition and speed. Purposeful practice has distinct components that distinguish it from merely repetitive practice. The key to purposeful practice is putting a series of small steps together to work toward a longer-term, specific goal. The task at hand needs full attention and keeps the mind squarely on the learning target. Purposeful practice is engaging to students and is powerful with feedback. If unfamiliar with the structure of the Iowa Core Literacy Standards for Writing, complete the Standards-Based Writing Overview micro-credential.

Intended Audience: Preschool -12th grade teachers

Completion Time: 3 hours

This offering provides basic information about helping students achieve reading fluency successfully in the classroom.

Intended Audience: K-12 Educators and Paraeducators

Completion Time: 2 hours

Looking around your classroom, what do you notice about the visual supports you provide to help your students learn to read and write? Many teachers are now utilizing a SOUND WALL to help students grasp all the sounds the letters make to help them remember how to “crack the code” and improve their spelling skills. Don’t know what a sound wall is? Are you wondering how it is different from a word wall? Then this micro-credential is for you!! Learn about the “why” behind utilizing a sound wall, engage in a start-up guide to get going no matter what time of the school year, and then share your experience of using your own sound wall in your classroom within two hours of professional learning.

Intended Audience: K-3 teachers, Early Childhood, Literacy

Completion Time: 3 hours

This micro-credential is intended for participants who are unfamiliar with or need a refresher regarding the Iowa Core Standards for Writing. Topics covered include college and career readiness anchor standards and standards progressions.(The information is based on a product of Iowa’s Statewide Literacy Leadership Team, which was composed of ELA/literacy educators representing AEA literacy consultants, K-12 teachers, teacher leaders, administrators, and college and university specialists in ELA/literacy teacher preparation.)

Intended Audience: K-12 teachers of writing

Completion Time: 1 hour

Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) includes inquiry-based instructional routines that are used to introduce words and reinforce word knowledge. This micro-credential provides a routine and resources for students to investigate words based on morphology, etymology, and phonology. Teachers and students will learn to harness the power of words by deepening their understanding of the English language and how words are spelled. The English language is complex, but is actually a highly organized system. While there is no replacement for the importance of explicitly teaching students to “crack the code” (aka: decode), Structured Word Inquiry enhances other areas of the essential building blocks of literacy, including: vocabulary development, language acquisition, and overall comprehension. While this approach may be used with young students, SWI is commonly utilized with older learners (grades 4-12) to become better readers, spellers, and comprehenders of complex text.

Intended Audience: K-12 Teachers

Completion Time: 3 hours

Before students can sound out words and become proficient readers, they must know how to pronounce letters (graphemes) and letter combinations that make up the sounds (phonemes) in words. In this module, participants will learn about grapheme-phoneme mapping and its importance for literacy development, a strategy for teaching grapheme-phoneme mapping, how to support English learners developing these skills, and how to prepare students for peer-mediated and independent practice.

Intended Audience: K-5 Educators

Completion Time: 2 hours

This micro-credential will address how writing is a process and not just a product. Too many times we have students write only for that final published piece. Participants will explore teaching strategies, supports, and tools to guide them in teaching of writing.

Intended Audience: K-5 general education teachers, special education teachers

Completion Time: 3 hours

The science of reading has gotten a lot of attention recently, but the research and evidence-based practices have been around for several years. This micro-credential will provide the overview of what the science of reading actually is and the implications for early elementary teachers.. Schools across the U.S. are having serious conversations about how to align early reading instruction to the large body of evidence about reading—the most studied aspect of human learning. This three-part webinar series will break down the “how”, why” and “what” of evidence-based literacy instruction, with a guide to help reflect on that learning.

Intended Audience: Early Elementary Teachers, Special Education Teachers

Completion Time: 3 hours

This micro-credential takes the research and provides practical implications for the early elementary classroom! In this bit of learning, you will engage in a 10-minute video and listen to a 40-minute podcast that will provide an overview of two models for early literacy: Scarborough’s Reading Rope and The Simple View of Reading. The content will explain why the Simple View of Reading is still relevant almost 40 years after its inception, the role of word recognition based on the science of reading, and highlight the importance of explicit phonics instruction. The podcast also advocates for an aligned curriculum to bring forth a systematic and equitable approach to reading for all students, and provides insight for teachers on what components are needed in the classroom.

Intended Audience: Early Literacy Teachers, Title I Teachers, Interventionists, Special Education Teachers

Completion Time: 2 hours

Studies have shown that, among students who struggle with reading at the beginning of the school year, the ones who surge ahead to reach grade-level benchmarks by the end of the year tend to engage in more high-quality reading practice. The purpose for these instructional routines is for students to apply phonics and word recognition to connected text.

Prerequisite Learning: Participants should already have an understanding of how to provide intentional phonics instruction.  This microcredential will address ways to transfer those skills into purposeful practice of reading.  This prerequisite for explicit and systematic phonics instruction at the early elementary level may be addressed in the microcredential titled "Uncovering the Logic of English, Phonics: Syllable Types." 

Intended Audience: Early Elementary Teachers 1st grade

Completion Time: 3 hours

Teaching spelling and all the sounds for different letter combinations can be intimidating! This content will provide a beginning understanding of how the language is structured, along with simple, practical generalizations that will unlock a lot of the mysteries of reading and spelling! By viewing a 30-minute video recording, reading a chapter from Uncovering the Logic of English by Denise Ihde, and digging into several practical resources, you will be equipped to begin understanding the patterns and generalizations to make sense of the English language.

Intended Audience: K-6 Teachers, Paraeducators, Interventionists, Title I Teachers, Special Education Teachers

Completion Time: 3 hours