Teachers Of All Subjects Become The Students To Better Improve Reading Scores At Tulsa Public Schools

Teachers of all different subjects across Tulsa Public Schools spent their day in the classroom learning about reading, but this time without their students.

Teachers became the students, learning new strategies about how to teach their students to read and the science that goes into it.

The desks were empty, and the classroom was quiet at Robertson Elementary, but several folks in the building were still hard at work, "c-a-t, that spells cat," one language arts teacher said. 

Melissa Boudiette is a first-grade teacher who learned about phonemic awareness.

"Something that I learned today is that even 3rd, 4th, or 5th graders still really need that basic sounding out of words just to continue to reinforce that phonemic awareness," she said. 

Boudiette and other teachers at Roberston Elementary learned about different ways to help their kids learn how to read.

"You see a paragraph and you can just read words and also understand what you're reading, that these components we can figure out how to make them sticky and really stick in the brains of our students," said Boudiette. 

Teachers completed assignments from the Oklahoma State Department of Education and learned from reading professionals to help work towards meeting the state requirements for the district's improvement.

"We're in the library and we're all on our computers watching the videos and completing the assignments and we're together so that we can discuss and get feedback from each other over what we're learning," Boudiette said. 

The school's principal said days like this are important to give the students the information they need to succeed.

"Our teachers are learning explicit instruction to pass on to students and so we can forget about all the other things going on and just work on what's best for kids," said Principal Kristen Smith. 

The teachers not only hope this helps the district's status, but most importantly the young lives that fill their classrooms, "what I do on a day-to-day basis in teaching kids how to read is the most important thing that I can do," Boudiette said. 

Tulsa Public Schools goes back to the Oklahoma State Department of Education on February 22nd, 2024, to update the state board on the progress the district has made to meeting the board's goals.