Mrs. Melanie Clark is the Jesse Boyd Reading Coach.

Mrs. Clark works with our teachers on implementing Readers and Writer’s workshop into the ELA curriculum as well as helping our teachers implement the rigorous South Carolina and IB standards of language arts. Her primary responsibility is to work in the classrooms side by side with teachers helping to increase the literacy program given to each student. Sometimes however, students require a pull out intervention for extra help in reading and comprehension skills. Mrs. Janet Davis is our Reading interventionist and does occasionally do some pull out intervention with small groups.

The program is designed to identify and assist students who may have difficulty developing literacy skills. Research suggests that learning literacy skills is easier for some children than others, therefore, the intervention addresses the specific needs of the student and offers direct instruction based on the strategies and skills not mastered. The duration of the intervention period can be between 30-40 minutes depending on the grade level and/or need of the students. Strategies and skills are incorporated into authentic reading and writing. They are modeled first, and then students are guided through leveled text books as they practice the strategies.
Students are also offered assistance with selecting good literature and “just right books” to enhance their interest and love of reading which can lead to an improvement in one’s vocabulary and literacy skills.
Keeping true to the IB philosophy, the goal of intervention is to provide students with the ability to assume more responsibility for their own learning; they become independent thinkers and develop into successful life-long learners.

To contact Mrs. Clark or Mrs. Davis, please call the school at 594-4430 or by Email L. Jacobs

Jesse Boyd Elementary School practices a balanced literacy approach to teaching an learning English Language Arts. Using this method, literacy is embedded within all core subject areas. Students read and write across the curriculum. Teachers implement a Reader’s and Writer’s workshop structure to their classrooms. Within the balanced literacy program students have:

Reading Aloud:

• Teacher reads selection aloud to students

• Provides adult model of fluent reading

• Develops sense of story/text

• Develops vocabulary

• Encourages prediction

• Builds a community of readers

• Develops active listening

Shared Reading:

• Teacher and students read text together

• Demonstrates awareness of text

• Develops sense of story or content

• Promotes reading strategies

• Develops fluency and phrasing

• Increases comprehension

• Encourages politeness and respect

Guided Reading: 

• Teacher introduces a selection at student’s instructional level

• Promotes reading strategies

• Increases comprehension

• Encourages independent reading

• Expands belief in own ability

Independent Reading: 

• Students read independently

• Encourages strategic reading

• Increases comprehension

• Supports writing development

• Extends experiences with a variety of written texts

• Promotes reading for enjoyment and information

• Develops fluency

• Fosters self-confidence by reading familiar and new text

• Provides opportunities to use mistakes as learning opportunities

Modeled/Shared Writing:

• Teacher and students collaborate to write text; teacher acts as scribe

• Develops concepts of print

• Develops writing strategies

• Supports reading development

• Provides model for a variety of writing styles

• Models the connection among and between sounds, letters, and words

• Produces text that students can read independently

• Necessitates communicating in a clear and specific manner

Interactive Writing:

• Teacher and students compose together using a “shared pen” technique in which students do some of the writing

• Provides opportunities to plan and construct texts

• Increases spelling knowledge

• Produces written language resources in the classroom

• Creates opportunities to apply what has been learned

Independent Writing: Students Write Independently and:

• Strengthen text sequence

• Develop understanding of multiple uses of writing

• Support their reading development

• Develop writing strategies

• Develop active independence