Children
will participate in activities that cater to strong, some, and minimal levels
of teacher support. Modeled reading and
writing, coupled with direct instruction and plenty of time for practice, lead
to the acquisition of skills and strategies.
In the following chart, the activities in the top rows provide strong
teacher support. Levels of support decrease
as you read down the chart.
|
Comprehensive, Balanced Literacy
Instruction
|
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Purposeful Speaking and Listening
|
Read Alouds
|
Word Study
|
Modeled Writing
|
Ongoing Assessment
|
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Shared Reading
|
Shared Writing
|
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|
Guided Reading
|
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
|
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|
Partner and Independent Reading
|
Independent Writing Practice
|
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Read Aloud
What is it? Children listen to a proficient reader orally
read and think about a text.
Why read alouds are
important:
J
They develop a love of reading.
J
They help build comprehension (how to understand
texts).
J
They bolster children's vocabulary.
J
They demonstrate the actual process of reading;
children learn by observing.
J
They expose children to texts from a wide
variety of genres.
Shared Reading
What is it? A proficient reader takes turns reading with
a developing reader or the proficient and developing readers can read together
at the same time.
Why shared reading is
important:
J
It helps develop fluency (reading with
appropriate phrasing, pace, and expression).
J
The developing reader mimics the proficient
reader. Mimicking develops the desired
behavior.
Guided Reading
What is it? Children of similar reading abilities meet in
small flexible groups to receive targeted instruction and independently read
texts of instructional difficulty.
Why guided reading is
important:
J
Children receive instruction directly related to
the skills and strategies they are developing.
J
Children interact with books that are just
challenging enough to help them progress in their skills without becoming too
frustrating.
J
Children immediately apply what they
learned.
J
Children receive immediate and explicit feedback
about their reading.
Partner and Independent
Reading
What is it? Children select and read books to read
silently or out loud, alone or with a friend.
Why independent
reading is important:
J
Children develop reading motivation.
J
Children increase the volume of texts they encounter.
J
Children "practice" reading.
Modeled Writing
What is it? Children observe a proficient writer think
about and physically compose a text.
Why modeled writing
is important:
J
Learners develop their concepts of print.
J
Text goes left to right and top to bottom.
J
There are spaces between words.
J
Sentences are ended with punctuation.
J
Learners observe how to "stretch out"
unknown words to spell them.
J
Learners build their appreciation for the
multiple purposes of writing.
Shared Writing
What is it? A proficient writer "shares the
pen" with a developing writer.
Why shared writing is
important:
J
The proficient writer is able to provide
sufficient support so that the developing writer experiences success.
J
It provides opportunities for experiences
relevant to specific learners. One child
may write the first sound of a word while another may write the whole
word.
J
The developing writer may devote more cognitive
power to a specific skill or craft objective, such as capitalizing the first
letter in a sentence or choosing a vivid verb, than would be possible during
independent writing.
Writer's Workshop
What is it? The teacher presents a short (10-15 minute)
mini-lesson about writer's workshop procedures, writer's craft, writing
conventions, or the reading-writing connection.
Students then have the opportunity to independently think about,
compose, and rework pieces of writing; students write about topics of personal
interest and develop their writing pieces to publish them as books.
Why writer's workshop
is important:
J
It develops a love of writing.
J
It demonstrates the many purposes of writing.
J
It introduces children to writing genres,
including narrative, opinion, persuasive, informative, and instructive.
J
Children have the opportunity to apply what they
have learned during mini-lessons.
J
Children learn about the process of writing
(pre-writing, drafting, conferring, revising, editing, publishing).
Independent Writing Practice
What is it? Children write for their own purpose.
Why independent
writing is important:
J
This is the time for children to practice what
they have learned about writing.
J
Independent writing helps children build their
"writing fluency" (the act of fluidly translating thoughts to written
text).
Word Study
What is it? Through direct instruction, word sorts, and
hands on activities, learners investigate and explore letter-sound
relationships and the spelling patterns that make up our written language.
Why word study is
important:
J
Children become "word detectives" who
meaningfully break down words both to encode (spell) and decode (read) unknown
words.
J
While reading and writing, children build knowledge
that helps with both.
J
Instead of learning one word at a time in
isolation, children develop tools to learn many words.
