Put me in coach, I'm ready to learn

If all of the subjects taught at Destin Middle School were a book, literacy coach Mary Peterson would be the spine holding the entire cluster together.

The little known role of a literacy coach within the school sheds light on how Destin students are taught today. The learning environment seems to have evolved from the “straight from the book” lessons of yesteryear.

Peterson is one of the myriad of literacy coaches in Okaloosa county that facilitate some of the top notch tactics that keep our schools on their ‘A’ game. Recently, she was voted as the middle school Literacy Coach of the Year within the district by her peers.

In a nutshell, her job is breaking down learning barriers through literacy.

“We have so much material to cover,” Peterson said. “We are constantly trying new ways for students to comprehend information.”

Literary coaches are educators too, but it goes way beyond the abilities to simply read and write. Literacy has become a tool for learning, rather than just a way to communicate ideas.

“We do implement the county’s literacy model,” she said.

In Peterson’s role, she works closely with the faculty at DMS to analyze FCAT data and provide professional development services to the teachers. She stays up-to-date on the latest trends and research in learning by networking and reading professional books on topics. She then bounces the ideas off of her fellow literacy coaches and then turns what she has learned into workshop sessions for the teachers of all different subjects.

She directly observes teachers, helps them formulate lesson plans and shows them how to utilize new teaching strategies that cover all styles of learning. Teachers also get together within their own element to share feedback and reaffirm their passions for bringing knowledge to the students.

“That’s what happens when we get in these learning communities,” she said. “The positive energy really flows through the groups.”
The teachers are becoming more immersed in differentiated learning.

Differentiated learning is a process that teaches students based on their different learning styles, taking into account the required performance levels relevant to the age group.

It allows the flexibility for students to acquire knowledge in the best way for the individual through reading about a topic, listen to a lecture, handling objects and doing group projects and discussions. Grouping is very important.

At DMS, Peterson works closely with Melody Gill, seventh-grade social studies teacher, and Marianne McMichael, sixth-grade language arts teacher to experiment with these learning models in the classroom.

After a unit of material is delivered in class, students are divided into groups at a “literacy station” where the material covered is given moredepth by exploring the concepts of the material in different ways. This “multiple intelligence” approach is designed to finally give credit to the different styles of learning.

Peterson finds that differentiated learning is working well in all subject areas.

Peterson’s responsibilities also include the school-wide campaigns of a Word of the Week, Silent Sustained Reading programs and helping publish the Literary magazine.

In her three years at DMS, Peterson has most enjoyed watching the teachers get excited over the exchange of ideas in their own learning communities after she has equipped them with new strategies.

“I am blessed with a wonderful faculty and principal,” she said.

Peterson earned her bachelor’s in special education from East Stroudsburg University and a master’s in counseling at the University of Scranton, both in Pennsylvania.

She actually started college as an English major, but switched her focus to special education after she had the opportunity to work with mentally disabled students over a summer.

“I’ve always had a love for psychology,” she said.

Peterson has a 17 year track record of teaching at the elementary, middle and high school levels. When her husband, Stanton, was a pilot in the Air Force, she taught as a learning impaired specialist in Germany and in Okinawa, Japan.

Peterson is now looking forward to DMS’s annual Read Aloud Day where people from “all walks of life” are invited to read to the students.
This year’s Read Aloud Day is scheduled for Inauguration Day, Jan. 20 from 9 a.m. to 10:10 a.m. at the school. Superintendent Alexis Tibbetts will visit the school to help promote the importance of reading for comprehension.

“We try to show that reading is important in all content areas,” Peterson said.

Also realizing the need to make the writing climate more exciting, Peterson also helps the teachers to set an environment where students can take their writing seriously to enhance their learning.

“If they write it, they retain it,” she said.