In Mar. 20-26 issue
By Derek Aaron
Times Journal Reporter

This week, Russell County High School was featured in the final phase of a literacy strategy project for teachers put on by the Kentucky Department of Education along with Kentucky Educational Television (KET).

Russell County High School is one of only two high schools in the state being documented with the “Literacy Without Limits” program this year, according to the program’s producer, Esther Tattershall.

The program, now in its 5th year, brought a KET camera crew to the high school to film in-class lessons.

According to its Web site, “Literacy Without Limits” is designed to be a helpful, non-intimidating, and immediately useful resource for teachers.

It states that effective instruction is illustrated in authentic classroom video with the featured Kentucky teachers “providing insight into their planning, pedagogical reasoning, and expectations for each lesson.”

Tattershall explained that a total of 10 schools across the state were chosen to be featured in this year’s Web segments. Russell County High School was chosen because its recent scholastic successes, she said.

Tattershall called the videos, viewable either through the Web or on DVD, a free professional development resource for teachers.

She explained that several teachers and principals at the school had been interviewed for the video and that the crew was at the school to get video of students in action and teachers using the program’s methods.

According to www.literacywithoutlimits.org, the instructional strategies presented in “Literacy Without Limits,: Help for Struggling Students, Grades 4-12” are guided by the instructional elements from Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy and the content area literacy standards from Standards for Middle and High School Literacy Coaches.