Richard O. Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy
Literacy Re-Imagined
Offering unique opportunities for pre-service and in-service teachers to inquire about the teaching and learning of literacy, the Richard O. Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy (JCCL) will be an extension of the diverse and inclusive campus community of UNI providing community-engaged opportunities for new, innovative thinking about literacy education empowering all involved to lead and share that learning both locally and globally.
The JCCL’s mission is to promote comprehensive literacy of all learners by transforming literacy education through expanding pre-service and in-service teachers’ literacy knowledge and instructional expertise in professional learning communities.
In-service Teacher
Practicing teachers are at the center of our mission here at the JCCL. Our goal is to meet teachers where they are at, listen to the questions that matter to them, and design opportunities for them to explore thinking and research their practice.
Pre-service Teacher
The act of becoming a teacher is a journey that starts the minute any individual decides to walk beside children and youth on their educational journey. At the JCCL, we seek out ways to support developing teachers by connecting them with opportunities to learn in schools and the community.
Researcher
Our image of the researcher is often a vision of someone in a white coat working in a lab setting. Here at the JCCL, we support teachers as researchers understanding that the most powerful questions and insights happen working side-by-side with teachers supporting them in their own inquiries into teaching and learning.
Our Goals
Create Opportunities
Create opportunities to support professional learning based on effective literacy instruction practices and current reading research. Assist teachers to collaborate in planning to meet the instructional needs of all students. Involve pre-service teachers in authentic teaching and learning experiences in the school and community setting, including shared professional learning opportunities with in-service teachers.
Empower Teachers and Readers
Empower communities by forming collaborative partnerships with teachers, families, schools, and community organizations across the state for the development of literacy research and programs that impact student learning.
Innovate Through Research and Practice
Innovate to advance knowledge related to literacy teaching and learning by engaging in mutually beneficial research-practice partnerships with schools, community organizations, and other research institutions in Iowa, nationally, and globally.
Signature Initiatives
A new professional development effort called the UNI Literacy Initiative brings 15 teachers to campus for a two-week summer institute to study elements of comprehensive literacy and identify a teacher research project to be carried out in their classroom during the school year (with ongoing support and guidance from JCCL staff). They then present their research at a statewide “Share Fair” in April.
The UNI Literacy Clinic is a critical part of the Literacy Education program and supports identified students (1st-6th grade) with literacy learning needs in an after-school program in fall and spring semesters, and as a morning clinic program at school sites in the summer. One-to-one tutoring is provided to clients by UNI students enrolled in the Advanced Literacy Practices course and the co-requisite Experience in Literacy: Tutoring course.
This project will bring young readers and writers to the UNI campus where they will have the opportunity to hear from and work with a variety of authors and illustrators.
A new professional development effort called the UNI Literacy Initiative brings 15 teachers to campus for a two-week summer institute to study elements of comprehensive literacy and identify a teacher research project to be carried out in their classroom during the school year (with ongoing support and guidance from JCCL staff). They then present their research at a statewide “Share Fair” in April.
The UNI Literacy Clinic is a critical part of the Literacy Education program and supports identified students (1st-6th grade) with literacy learning needs in an after-school program in fall and spring semesters, and as a morning clinic program at school sites in the summer. One-to-one tutoring is provided to clients by UNI students enrolled in the Advanced Literacy Practices course and the co-requisite Experience in Literacy: Tutoring course.
This project will bring young readers and writers to the UNI campus where they will have the opportunity to hear from and work with a variety of authors and illustrators.
Because the research on literacy education is ever-changing, teacher preparation programs can only provide a snapshot in time of what high quality practice might look like. The ‘give a man a fish” saying comes to mind. Teach a teacher to teach well, they’ll teach well for now. Teach a teacher to research, and they’ll teach well for a lifetime!
Researching Literacy
JCCL Fellows
Mentoring efforts through the JCCL include mentoring for faculty called the “JCCL Fellows” & Lunch and Learn Research Talks. Fellows take up a research or service project related to transforming narrow views of literacy assisting the educational community to consider new aspects of literacy teaching and learning.
Teacher Thinking and Decision Making
Critical to our mission is to understand teacher thinking. Too often research is done to teachers or for teachers – our goal is to engage in research with teachers. Valuing them as our co-researchers, assisting to develop questions worth asking, collecting data, analyzing and sharing our findings – is all central to our research mission.
Literacy's Future: What questions should we be asking?
What happens to our work when we think with the future in mind? What does literacy of the future look like? What questions should we be asking with a futuristic mindset? These questions drive our work at the JCCL. As we determine what types of research will help the educational community we question what do we know about literacy and what questions still need to be answered.