DEVELOPING PERSPECTIVES THROUGH PROGRESS IN THE FIELD OF LITERACY

PeP is an acronym for: Developing Perspectives through Progress in the Field of Literacy- a best-practice model of a research-based, field-tested and thoroughly evaluated modular training course for literacy development in all subject areas of upper secondary schools.

This interdisciplinary literacy intervention programme promotes better chances for the high percentage of socially disadvantaged students, many of them with migration background, in multiethnic upper secondary German classrooms. Developed in 2012/13 at the Ernst Reuter-Schule 1 (=ERS1) in Frankfurt/ Main, PeP is taught as a compulsory subject across the curriculum in year 11 (students aged 15-16). It aims at supporting the ERS1 learners with their 39 different languages to develop a stable self-concept as learners and to successfully face literacy challenges in the final phase before the German school-leaving exam (German Abitur =British: A-Levels, US: High-School Diploma). ‚The Frankfurt Ernst-Reuter School 1 supports students in improving their chances of social participation – language promotion through PeP mobilises their talent reserves.‘ (M. Schmidt-Dietrich, principal of ERS1).

AUTHOR: Dorothee Gaile

Dorothee Gaile is a German literacy expert, project coordinator, teacher trainer and author with the focus on international best-practice models of content area literacy in secondary schools. She has a wide teaching experience in modern languages at German schools and University of Applied Sciences following her academic studies at the Universities of Marburg (Germany) and Bristol (UK).

As a literacy expert she is a member of the ‘European Literacy Policy Network – ELINET Association’, in the thematic working group on ’Adolescent and disciplinary literacy’. She contributed to the project development and ‘train the trainers’ programmes within the following EU-projects coordinated by Prof. Christine Garbe (University of Cologne): BleTeach – ( Blended Learning in Teachers´ Professional Development – Developing a Blended Learning Course in Content Area Literacy for Secondary Teachers)( 2015-18), ISIT (Implementation Strategies for Innovations in Teachers´ Professional Development) (2013-14), BaCuLit (Basic Curriculum for Teachers´ In-Service Training in Content Area Literacy in Secondary Schools) (2011-12), and Adore (Teaching Struggling Adolescent Readers in European Countries- Key Elements of Good Practice) (2006-2009).

2002-2015 Dorothee held a position as project coordinator and teacher trainer at the Office for Teacher Training in the Federal State of Hessen (Germany). Starting in 2003 she built up a cooperation with Ruth Schoenbach and Cynthia Greenleaf, developers of the innovative literacy intervention programme Reading Apprenticeship at WestEd, Oakland (CA). Dorothee Gaile’s work of introducing German/ European educators to this successful literacy programme for adolescents, and of adopting it to German schools in the years 2003 onwards was awarded to her and her team members Jona Jasper and Ralf Schummer-Hofmann by the Hamburg-seated Körber foundation In the Körber- transatlantic competition of ideas, Usable, of 2006. Together with her project team Dorothee Gaile set up modular teacher training courses under the titles ‘Literacy Development after PISA’ (2002- 2004) and ‘New Reading and Language Development for Secondary Schools’ (= German adaptation of the Reading Apprenticeship programme) (2005-2010), qualified colleagues as multipliers in all 15 Hessian school districts in 4 waves of qualification and reached ca. 500 schools throughout the federal State of Hessen.

2005 – 2017 Following invitations from teacher training institutes and universities in several other Federal German States and in Austria Dorothee presented the Reading Apprenticeship programme to colleagues and decision-makers during teacher training conferences.

Email: dorotheegaile@yahoo.de