Kentucky Connected Educator Brenda Overturf

Brenda J. Overturf

In what ways are you a connected educator?

I think connectedness comes in many forms. I have served in a number of different roles in Kentucky education--classroom teacher at both the elementary and middle levels in Estill and Bullitt counties, interdisciplinary team leader at Mt Washington Middle School, project coordinator at OVEC, district administrator for K-12 Reading Curriculum and Assessment in Jefferson County, and literacy faculty member at the University of Louisville. At the beginning of my career, it was business as usual to close my door and work alone. Now I can’t imagine educating students without being connected with other teachers, administrators, content areas, and departments. Sometimes this connection is face-to-face in person, and sometimes it is enhanced through the use of electronic tools.

Right now, I am spending my time globally connected with teachers across the U.S. and other countries, both in person and online, to focus on strategies for vocabulary development in grades K-9.

How does being connected impact your practice in schools/classroom?

I have published several books on literacy, including one with teachers Leslie Montgomery and Margot Holmes Smith entitled Word Nerds: Teaching All Students to Learn and Love Vocabulary. The focus of Word Nerds is on vocabulary development in a high poverty elementary school, and uses an intentional plan and active, creative, and engaging strategies. Most recently, I have worked with middle schools to explore ways to adapt this type of vocabulary instruction and assessment with young adolescents. Even though I have years of middle school teaching experience myself, it wasn’t enough to sit at my computer and write in isolation. I had to be out in schools, sharing strategies, observing practice and student engagement, and talking with teachers about their thinking processes. Often I accomplished this by physically visiting the school. Other times teachers sent me video recordings and photos from their phones or iPads or other digital examples of student work.

The “Recorder” app on my iPhone has also been extremely helpful in staying connected. Not only can I press a button and record an interview or notes to myself, I can give the recording a title and email it to others. I can easily edit and organize audio recordings in the folders I keep as I write. I often use voice recognition software to dictate my thoughts or the thoughts of teachers in order to produce part of a first draft. I certainly see applications of this to the K-12 classroom!

How does being connected impact you as a professional?

By being connected, I learn about great classroom practice from other educators. When I first approached middle school teachers about adapting vocabulary instruction, I had a basic plan in mind. I first visited each school in person to talk with the teachers and to share the ideas in Word Nerds. As we kept in touch electronically, it quickly became obvious that there are many ways to adapt strategies and plan formative assessment that best fits the school’s students and mission. In one middle school, teachers worked together in interdisciplinary teams to plan for vocabulary development. In another school, the English language arts teachers worked as a professional learning community and reached out to content area teachers to plan for vocabulary instruction and assessment. In a third approach, a teacher combined more strategic vocabulary activities within a published literacy program. In each case, teachers used hands-on, active, engaging strategies that meet the developmental needs of students at the middle level, such as drama, art, music, and technology.

For instance, Tonie Weddle, a teacher at Bullitt Lick Middle School, facilitated a lesson on close reading of a literature text. Students used Socrative, a free online student response system, and their own electronic devices as e-clickers. Students selected five vocabulary words they had learned during the school year that they felt represented the mood of the story and wrote them into their devices. As they chose their words, each student’s response appeared on the screen. Students then defended their answers by relating vocabulary words, some of which had originally come from content area selections, to the short story. It was a very deep thinking activity and a great vocabulary review. So, while working on this book, I certainly learned lessons from each teacher and school that will impact others as well as my own learning.

What advice or resources would you recommend to colleagues interested in becoming connected?

Look for connections in unconventional places. Any time you work with another teacher to plan effective instruction for students, whether that person is next door or on the other side of the globe, you are connected. Digital tools make being connected creative and convenient. We all have to work together for student achievement!

Bio: Brenda J. Overturf is a career Kentucky educator, and is past president of the Kentucky Reading Association. She is a former board member of the International Reading Association and the 2012-2015 chair of the IRA Common Core Standards committee. Brenda is the author of several books and articles on literacy, and speaks and consults internationally. Vocabularians: Integrated Word Study in the Middle Grades will be available from Stenhouse in spring 2015..