Over the past several months, teachers have been using district-provided collaboration time to work alongside colleagues in support of our school-wide focus on reading comprehension and identity. Through this shared inquiry, we are exploring how literacy structures can deepen students’ ability to think, communicate, and make meaning.

Two teachers, Ms. Nasiopoulos and Ms. Crozier, have been working together to implement the literacy framework of Story Workshop. This past week, our Assistant Superintendent, Ms. Braunwyn Thompson, visited to see this learning in action.

Using the Story Workshop process of Think, Create, Tell, Write, students begin by exploring a variety of open-ended materials to build and represent their ideas. This “Create” phase allows students to rehearse their thinking visually and orally before moving into more formal communication. As students tell their stories—sometimes with a teacher scribing and sometimes independently—they are developing narrative structure, sequencing skills, vocabulary, and the ability to clarify and expand their ideas for an audience.

We are noticing that when students have time to create and orally rehearse their stories, their comprehension deepens. They are better able to organize their thinking, make connections, and communicate their understanding with greater confidence. Moving forward, our focus is to support students in transferring this rich oral storytelling into independent writing, strengthening both their expressive skills and their ability to make meaning from text.

Through collaborative structures like Story Workshop, we are intentionally building the bridge between comprehension, identity, and communication—ensuring students are not only learning to read and write, but to think critically and share their voice.