How does this PD program meet and support the challenges of urban schools?
Many of the videos in Regie Routman in Residence were taken in urban classrooms with large populations of English language learners of diverse backgrounds and with special education students included in all the lessons. Participants view not just the lessons but the classroom management and language of respect and encouragement shown to all students. Participants “see” what happens when we raise expectations for all students, teach explicitly and responsively, and use ongoing assessment to inform and accelerate our instruction. Students who are reading and writing two and three years below grade level often begin to excel, sometimes in the space of a day, through a single reading or writing conference. Participants learn that challenging curriculum, excellent literature, high-level concepts, and vocabulary must be as routine in a school where the majority of the students come from families with low incomes as one where children come from families with high incomes. Regie Routman in Res
