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We are glad you're here.
We hope you find all you're seeking!
Please contact us with any questions or comments.
The strategies and activities in LOGOS help students up to about age 8 to learn foundational literacy skills such as letter recognition, phoneme awareness, and the alphabetic principle. In LOGOS workshops, teachers are also helped to better utilize other materials already available to them. It is not necessary for teachers to use LOGOS with students before beginning Word Revelation.
Because written language is based on spoken language, literacy development builds off of language development.
Maximal literacy development -- reading and writing skills -- depends heavily on some particular skills related to spoken language and particular skills related to written (language) symbols.
Spoken language has various levels: Our discourse -- conversation or written texts -- is made of clauses. Clauses are made of phrases. Phrases are made of words. Words are made of syllables. Syllables are made of sounds -- the sounds of language, which are also called phonemes.
In this diagram, the "Spoken Language" bubble in the ALL model has been expanded to show the levels of spoken language.
In order to achieve maximal literacy skills, students need to develop skills at all levels of spoken language, from oral language discourse skills (listening comprehension, story-telling and retelling abilities) all the way down to phoneme awareness, which is the understanding that spoken words can be "split up" into individual sounds.
In written language, the written symbols and conventions represent the sounds of spoken language. One of the key examples of this is that written letters represent the sounds (or phonemes) of spoken language. In order to develop maximal literacy skills, students need to acquire certain Written Language skills, such as recognition of the letters when written in a variety of fonts, knowledge of the connections between uppercase and lowercase letters, the letter names and the sounds that the letters represent.
In order to develop maximal literacy skills, students need to understand the point of the alphabet. That is, after acquiring an understanding that words are made sounds (phoneme awareness) and that letters are associated with sounds, it is necessary for students to have explicit understanding that those letter sounds are indeed the same sounds that words are made of. That may seem to be an obvious fact if you are a skilled reader, but it is not necessarily obvious to learners, especially those who are struggling or have struggled to develop reading or writing skills.
The strategies, activities, and recommendations in LOGOS kits include ways for teachers to help students develop skills at various levels of Spoken Language; Written Symbols skills; and initial understanding of the Alphabetic Principle.
While it is necessary for students, especially those younger than approximately age 8, to have begun to develop the particular skills addressed in LOGOS before going on to Word Revelation, other programs or approaches can help students develop these same skills. That is, it is not necessary for students to have completed the specific activities included in LOGOS before using Word Revelation.
LOGOS materials are distributed during LOGOS workshops.
During the workshop, instructors will do or see strategies and activities included in the set of LOGOS materials.
The workshop for instructors has 2 main components, which alternate throughout the workshop:
(1) Participants will do or see the same activities that their students will do, in order to have experienced them personally before helping students do them, and
(2) Participants will also learn a framework to help them make instructional decisions such as how to observe and address areas of weakness in students, so that the students are never frustrated and never bored.
The LOGOS activities help students develop the foundational skills that allow for later maximal reading, spelling, and writing skills. They set the students up for success, guiding them to develop the habits that skilled readers (and writers) demonstrate.
Our intention is that much of the workshop is activities, so that you are not listening to the instructor talk too much of the time!
While the LOGOS activities could be useful for teachers whose students are older, they are most appropriate for teachers of students under the age of about 8. For older students who still need to develop the foundational skills addressed in LOGOS, it is recommended that rather than completing LOGOS activities, these students go straight into Word Revelation activities, which help students develop these foundational skills as they go.
Workshops are scheduled when you or someone else asks for them. They have been held in school classrooms and staff lounges, church common rooms, living rooms, dining rooms, basements, community center conference rooms, and libraries. The only need is for each participant to have a place to sit and a workspace about the size of a classroom desk -- but that space can vary from a spot at a dining room table to a classroom desk to a card table or tray table.
Online workshops have been given with small groups using Google Hangouts.
LOGOS workshops can be given in time slots that work well for your group.
A 45- to 60-minute introductory presentation can be given in order for you or your group to decide whether you'd like to continue.
LOGOS workshops have been given on 1 full day, 2 to 3 half-days, and as a series of 2- to 3-hour after-school sessions with teachers. We were hesitant to hold after-school sessions at first (just because it seemed like too much after a school-day!), but we have received good feedback and requests for additional after-school meetings from participants, even after teaching a full school-day.
The workshop sessions can be back-to-back or spread out over time: for example, on a Friday and Saturday, or 2 Fridays in a row, or 1 Friday afternoon a month for 3 or 4 months, or other arrangements that fit your group's schedule.
It is often easiest to talk through scheduling options together. Please feel free to call or email with a workshop questions or request.