This school year, Catherine Shawana, a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, continues her commitment to First Nations education as a Grade 8 teacher at Lloyd S. King Elementary School on the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. After serving as the Curriculum Lead teacher for the past 5 years, she is now focused on the practical applications of classroom teaching, stating, “I want to develop a deeper understanding of the ‘HOW.’”
Catherine is also part of ONlit’s Curriculum Assistance Team, providing support to Ontario teachers by answering queries and helping to develop relevant resources that align with the revised Ontario Language Curriculum. She has developed resources such as Fluency in Perspective and Repurposing Levelled Literacy Intervention and she participated in the Important Canadians Unit Launch Party Webinar, vetting such resources that include Indigenous content.
Catherine has been instrumental in implementing evidence-based, systematic, and explicit instruction at Lloyd S. King Elementary School, where the literacy journey began in 2018 with a focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, and professional development for staff. The release of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read report in 2022 provided a roadmap for literacy improvements, particularly in early screening and reading interventions.
“Those were areas we could easily target and apply right away,” Catherine explains, acknowledging that while the report’s recommendations for First Nations are crucial, addressing those larger issues can be more challenging at the classroom level.
As Curriculum Lead, Catherine played a key role in implementing the new curriculum during the 2023-24 school year. Lloyd S. King Elementary integrates the Ontario curriculum with traditional knowledge, community input, language, and land-based learning, ensuring cultural integration across all subjects.
When the ministry released the memorandum on universal screeners and the new curriculum in 2023, Catherine and her team were already exploring the use of the Acadience screener. “Once again, it was just confirming that we were heading in the right direction,” she says.
In the 2023-24 school year, Lloyd S. King Elementary School rolled out the Acadience screener from Kindergarten Year 2 to Grade 8, exceeding the province’s recommendation of screening up to Grade 2. “I had already been collecting data for a number of years and knew the needs extended beyond Grade 3. So I wanted to ensure we were addressing those needs, and decided to screen all students from Kindergarten Year 2 to Grade 8,” says Catherine.
She explains that once a screener is implemented, the process becomes more structured. “After choosing your screener, everything else starts to fall into place. The next thing teachers want to know is, ‘Okay, these students are flagged in red—what specifically do I need to do to help them meet the next benchmark?'”
To dig deeper into the data, the school adopted additional tools such as phonemic awareness screeners, CORE Phonics Survey, and a spelling inventory. With the data in hand, the focus shifted to effective Tier 1 classroom instruction. To do so, the school introduced monthly data collaboration meetings by division. “We’re meeting monthly, following an outcomes-driven model, and building our Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). This is where we’ve started doing a lot of work and having important discussions about systematic, explicit instruction using progress monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction.
Catherine attributes much of the success of the curriculum implementation to her role as Curriculum Lead from 2019-2024, which allowed her the time and space to focus on implementing Structured Literacy. “Being out of the classroom gave me the ability to support teachers while having enough time in my schedule to do research, watch webinars, gather information, and formulate a clear direction. It didn’t happen overnight—I spent a good six months to a year studying and planning the direction we needed to go as a school.”
Having collected substantial data prior to this shift also proved beneficial. “We were already gathering a lot of data, so I had a good sense of where we were and where we needed to go,” Catherine shares.
The school’s intentional approach to professional development (PD) also played a crucial role. “We made sure our PD days were purposeful. They may not have been entirely focused on the science of reading, but we consistently included a portion of the time to share information with staff, whether during a school improvement plan meeting or a PD session, building knowledge is crucial.”
Finally, Catherine emphasizes the importance of building a strong support network within the school— a team that includes administrators, SERTs, and paraprofessionals. Be sure to prioritize clear communication and transparency about the school’s progress, so educators, support staff, and families understand their contribution to the success. “We can improve how we communicate with parents and the broader community about our literacy initiatives and how they can support learning at home.”
Catherine Shawana’s dedication to literacy success at Lloyd S. King Elementary is rooted in evidence-based practices, collaboration, and meaningful community engagement. Her focus on communication and support fosters lasting progress for both students and teachers.
Acknowledgement: This blog post is inspired by the Season 2 episode of Reading Road Trip, titled The Structured Literacy Shift in a First Nation School with Catherine Shawana. To learn more about Catherine’s approach and her inspiring journey, listen to the podcast.
