Planning Literacy Instruction: When You Know Better and Want to Do Better

Four years ago, I realized my literacy instruction was not meeting the needs of my students. I read Know Better, Do Better: Teaching the Foundations So Every Child Can Read, followed some educators talking about this on Twitter, and never looked back. I wonder if I was having that moment today, though, how would I perceive the results of my Google and Twitter searches? 

I’ve recently been thinking a lot about the inundation of curriculum conversations that seem to be ever present in the Twitter and Facebook sphere. More specifically, I wonder how the conversations we are having, both in real time and digitally, impact teachers who may not have the benefit of working in schools prioritizing structured literacy, or are just beginning to learn about structured literacy for the first time. Because I am so entrenched in this “conversation,” it can be easy to forget that many teachers are on the periphery of this movement, and may or may not have asked themselves what this learning means for their own instruction. I am a firm believer in foundational skills and knowledge-building curricula, but I do worry that the narrative is too focused on curriculum and what makes them effective or ineffective. Not enough energy is spent uncovering the shifts that can be made within one’s own practice with the resources one has available. This impacts all teachers, including those who are implementing structured literacy and knowledge-building curriculum.

I’m writing this blog post to share some high-leverage, high-impact shifts teachers should be making regardless of their curricular materials. These shifts can be implemented tomorrow, and they are free. Additionally, these are shifts that work well in grades 3+. As an upper elementary, middle or high school teacher, it can be tricky entering this space. There seems to be an abundance of information and resources for k-2 teachers. The need for the instructional shifts highlighted by the science of reading is just as acute in upper elementary and middle school classrooms.

It is important to acknowledge that this work and all of the recommendations below are more manageable when one has access to high-quality instructional materials, preferably a curriculum that builds knowledge. If this is not the reality, utilize open resource materials, such as CKLA Free Curriculum, Open Up Resources- EL Education, and Minnesota OER Commons. Understanding the grade level standards and expected student outcomes is critical to our work. In fact, the more familiar one is with the progression of the standards, the better the instruction. 

Furthermore, building knowledge is essential; and identifying and centering a complex text or text set is the best way to ensure we are helping students build knowledge. Beginning with the end in mind, backwards planning from an assessment or from a performance task helps clarify the purpose of the texts and how we plan for students to interact with them. Once a text or text set is chosen, it is important to consider how students will begin to build knowledge, both concretely and abstractly. In order to ensure all students have an access point, I recommend introducing the topic through a piece of artwork or a video and following up with an “I Notice, I wonder” strategy. This illuminates what students already know and can guide next steps. 

Build fluency routines utilizing complex texts. This is amplified if the texts build background knowledge around a topic. Begin by introducing the components of fluency and give students this rubric created by Tim Rasinski. Students keep a copy of this rubric in their binders along with our current fluency passage. They refer back to this rubric when self-assessing or giving feedback to a peer.   My most commonly-used fluency routines include choral reading, partner reading, and reader’s theater. Reader’s Theater is my favorite mode of building fluency, as it meets the criteria of ‘two things at once...’ Because many scripts embed core content, students receive the benefit of building schema AND fluency. Aaron Grossman at www.justtwoteachers.com has numerous scripts that support a range of topics. Scripts can also be written using ChatGPT. 

Teach vocabulary explicitly and through morphology. The vocabulary should come from the text set. What prefixes, suffixes, and roots are present in the text? Pick the three that will have the biggest impact on students deciphering word meaning. Teach the meaning explicitly and provide opportunities for word hunts. Create a system where students are actively looking for these in their reading. Plan opportunities for students to use the words/affixes in their own writing. Give students ownership of this by asking them to create a gesture that matches the affix. This activity can be revisited as a form of retrieval practice. The Morphology Project is a well-respected resource and is free.   

Enhance writing with Juicy Sentences and other activities from The Writing Revolution (TWR). Sentences can, and should, be pulled directly from the complex text being read in class. This document from Achieve the Core is helpful in understanding what kinds of sentences can be utilized, as well as the process of chunking a sentence.

The “Because, But, So,” strategy from TWR familiarizes students with frequently used syntax and how to manipulate a clause in three separate ways. Most notably, it gives students the chance to expand on and apply their learning to their writing. This video from Aaron Grossman exemplifies this strategy. Adding appositives to clarify and expand on nouns and noun phrases is a writing strategy that can be easily implemented in most writing pieces.            

Even with access to a great curriculum, my teammates and I purposefully plan for and utilize the aforementioned practices to support and enhance our literacy instruction. We know one program is unable to “do it all,” so we use data, observation, and the science of learning to plan more intentionally. Fluency and vocabulary acquisition are two focus areas. 

We identify weekly/bi-weekly fluency texts from a science, social studies, or ELA module and ensure students have ample opportunities to practice in a variety of structures. Students opt into a readers theater script on Monday and practice throughout the week with their peers. This 5-8 minute routine builds additional background knowledge, fluency, and vocabulary. When time permits we integrate other arts practices. Students are able to track their progress towards fluency throughout the week. 

Morpheme Magic is used to explicitly teach affixes and roots, and we do our best to align these with affixes and roots found in our texts. Students incorporate these into their writing. We are constantly tracking new vocabulary through a class vocabulary anchor chart that becomes a mind map throughout the module. Students draw lines to make connections, identify parts of speech, identify synonyms/antonyms, etc. Students have their own version of this that they add to throughout the module.

Entering this space can be disorienting, particularly now. But students need support even when their teachers are using a knowledge-building curriculum. One program cannot simply do it all- and we should not expect it to. If you are a kinder or first grade teacher, it is pretty easy to find foundational skills materials. As an upper elementary teacher, or even a middle or high school teacher, those materials are not readily available. I believe the shifts discussed above are concrete and accessible to all teachers, even through high school. As someone who spends a lot of time planning and finding resources to address gaps, I am still trying to find a solution to the spelling and encoding challenges I see year after year.