Imua Literacy: Moving Hawaiʻi forward with local solutions.

Disciplinary literacies (DL) have always been a hot topic for secondary schools since much of the literacy learning in these grades occurs across the content areas (think science, social studies, art...). Even the Hawaiʻi Common Core State Standards established DL goals for grades 6-12. But does that mean that elementary teachers don’t have an important role to play in teaching specialized ways of reading, writing, and thinking in a particular discipline?
In this episode, we'll chat with University of Hawaiʻi professors Drs. Stephanie Buelow and Charlotte Frambaugh-Kritzer, who've studied disciplinary literacy and its use in Hawaiʻi. We talk about defining disciplinary literacy, why it is important for both elementary and secondary students, and what teachers and families can do to help promote it.
Your Hosts

• Dr. Esmeralda Carini
• Erin D’Amelio

Links for You!

• For you literacy nerds out there, check out the International Literacy Association's brief on Content Area & DL: Strategies and frameworks.
• Check out Charlotte and Stephanie's recent articles on disciplinary literacies:
  • Solving Like a Mathematician: Disciplinary Literacy Instruction in Elementary Mathematics (and here's that neat KWL vs KNWS strategy sheet!)
  • Communicating like an artist: Disciplinary literacy
    instruction in elementary visual arts
  • What are Disciplinary Literacies in Dance and Drama in the Elementary Grades?

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] for a bonus episode in which we answer your burning literacy questions!
Episode 7 Music

• Intro/Outro: “Together We Can” hedkandi
• "Life of Riley" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Daily Beetle" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• “Easy Lemon” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

How can we build this bridge from school to home in a way that can be relevant for the world that families live in today? In today’s episode, we’ll focus on one way to do just that: Family Resource Centers (FRC). FRC are community-based or school-based, flexible, family-focused, and culturally sensitive hubs of support and resources that provide programs and targeted services based on the needs and interests of families. FRCs aim to promote a “shared partnership” that can enhance students’ language and literacy learning.

We’ll chat with some familiar friends, Drs. Kat O’Dell and Kathy Ratliffe, but we’ll bring on a new guest, Fuli Soa, who is the director of the Waimanalo School's Family Resource Center. She’ll talk specifically about her experience working at the family resource center and how she views her center’s success.

Your Hosts

• Dr. Esmeralda Carini
• Erin D’ Amelio

Links for you!

• Explore the website of Fuli's family resource center to see its work in action.
• Hawaiʻi Statewide Family Engagement Center publishes tons of resources for families and teachers here in Hawaiʻi. For example, check out their family guide for supporting learning for students in kindergarten to grade 5!
• The National Center for Improving Literacy has so many wonderful resources for parents and families to support their children's reading and writing skills.
• The Hawaiʻi State Literacy Plan is designed in partnership with the Executive Office on Early Learning, the Hawai‘i State Department of Education, the University of Hawai‘i System and numerous community organizations. You can find it here.

Episode 6 Music

• Intro/Outro: “Together We Can” hedkandi
• "Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Life of Riley" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Fretless Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
• "Daily Beetle" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, we will explore the role that phonological awareness plays in early literacy and language development with literacy aficionado, David Yung, from Maunawili Elementary. We will learn about the parts that make up phonological awareness associated with later literacy achievement. Come be students with us again as David shares fun and easy tips and strategies that families and teachers alike can use to build these reading skills.

Your Hosts

• Dr. Esmeralda Carini
• Erin D’ Amelio

Links for You!

• Here’s a graphic of Tolman’s hourglass figure David mentioned (and a video of Tolman herself explaining it) and Scarborough’s reading rope.
• David also mentioned David Kilpatrick's book, Equipped for Reading Success: A Comprehensive, Step-By-Step Program for Developing Phonemic Awareness and Fluent Word Recognition.
• Reading Rockets provides a nice overview of phonological awareness and more tips and strategies for teachers and families to use with their students or children.
• For further reading, check out the International Literacy Association’s position statement and research brief on phonological awareness.
• The Hawaiʻi State Literacy Plan is designed in partnership with the Executive Office on Early Learning, the Hawai‘i State Department of Education, the University of Hawai‘i System and numerous community organizations. You can find it here.

Episode 4 Music

• Intro/Outro: “Together We Can” by hedkandi
• "Montauk Point" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hawai‘i is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse states in the country. As a result, English learners (ELs) make up a significant portion of the state's student population: up to 18% of students are, or have been, classified as English learners and represent up to 70 different languages! Their academic outcomes, however, vary widely. How can we better meet their needs and support their academic pathways? In this episode, we'll explore how we might be able to do that with Jeremiah Brown, the EL Coordinator at Waipahu High School. He'll share about how his school has successfully tapped into the multilingualism of its students, as well as other strategies to support ELs more broadly.
Your Hosts

• Dr. Esmeralda Carini
• Erin D’Amelio

Links for You!

• For the teachers out there, Jeremiah shared this resource on called the Teacher Can Dos, which is based off the WIDA standards to support ELs. Specifically, it gives teachers different ideas for accommodations to scaffold instruction based on which language levels their students might be.
• Visit Waipahu High School's Multilingual Marauders page to see all the wonderful projects that we talked about on the podcast, and more! We especially love the Rising from Our Roots book and the bilingual readers in Chuukese and Marshallese.
• The Hawaiʻi State Literacy Plan is designed in partnership with the Executive Office on Early Learning, the Hawai‘i State Department of Education, the University of Hawai‘i System and numerous community organizations. You can find it here.

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] for a bonus episode in which we answer your burning literacy questions!
Episode 8 Music

• Intro/Outro: “Together We Can” hedkandi
• "Montauk Point" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Life of Riley" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We have 50 years of research that proves family engagement is an important strategy to improve students literacy and overall learning - so why is it still so hard to achieve? This month, we explore the what, why, and how of family engagement in Hawai‘i, particularly how to best serve our families from the islands of Micronesia. Our guest, Dr. Kathy Ratliffe, a professor in the Educational Psychology department at the University of Hawai‘i, discusses how expanding our definition of engagement and rethinking our assumptions can lead to stronger and thriving partnerships. By the end, we hope you can come away with some ideas on how to build this bridge from school to home in a way that is relevant for the world that families live in today.
“Angang chok aramas” is a Chuukese proverb roughly translated as, "It's only through people that the work can be done." We couldn't agree more!

Your Hosts

• Dr. Esmeralda Carini
• Erin D’Amelio

Links for You!

• The Hawai‘i Statewide Family Engagement Center has lots of resources that are grounded in the state's community.
• We love the work of Waipahu High School to reach all its learners. The Multilingual Marauders site has tons of resources. Our favorite is the collaboration with Bess Press on the bilingual readers for Chuukese and Marshallese (found towards the bottom of the page).
• Here is the AFFECT professional development modules on family and community engagement developed by Kathy and other UH team members.
• The Hawaiʻi State Literacy Plan is designed in partnership with the Executive Office on Early Learning, the Hawai‘i State Department of Education, the University of Hawai‘i System and numerous community organizations. You can find it here.

Episode 5 Music

• Intro/Outro: “Together We Can” by hedkandi
• "Daily Beetle" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• “Easy Lemon” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
• "Life of Riley" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• "Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/