Secondary Literacy Guide

Best Practices in ELA

Teachers plan instruction around texts that are at grade level, developmentally appropriate, and are culturally relevant in a broader context. • Teachers provide daily opportunities to read from a variety of sources. • Teachers provide daily opportunities to read texts of a variety of lengths. Texts should be read in digestible chunks, with tasks that make reading visible and support student comprehension and application of the texts. • Annotation, discussion, and other active strategies should be employed. • Teachers should avoid reading strategies that do not hold students accountable or make learning visible, e.g. SSR, pop-corn reading, and inactively listening to text being read to students. Teachers will develop lessons to encourage a close reading of text. • Text should be short enough to be consumed multiple times in one class period (e.g. scene of a play, article, page of a novel, section of textbook). • Teachers set purpose for each reading, moving through the progression of text-dependent questions. • Teachers develop student understanding through discussions. • A final application task finishes a close read. Teachers will provide and explicitly teach vocabulary that is academic and domain specific. • Teachers will teach words and parts of words. • Teach multi-meaning words and nuances in word meaning. • Teach word-solving strategies. Teachers will provide students with opportunities to write in order to express learning, gain knowledge, engage with text, demonstrate growth, and communicate with the world around them. Teachers will develop opportunities for students • to write daily, • for a range of purposes, • audiences, • and lengths of time. Teachers will provide students with opportunities to discuss in order to express learning, gain knowledge, engage with text, demonstrate growth, and communicate with the world around them. Teachers will develop opportunities for all students • to speak daily, • for a range of purposes, • audiences, • and lengths of time. Teachers will teach conventions explicitly based on current task and student needs. Teachers will develop targeted lessons that students will apply to their own writing. Teachers will plan to use texts actively. •

Students engage in reading via annotation, discussion, writing and other strategies to support comprehension and application.

Challenging Texts

Students shouldactively read the text through: • the use of annotation strategies for the defined purpose. • structured discussions to facilitate understandings of the text, building on and learning from each other. • re-engagement by rereading for different purposes to build deeper levels of understanding.

Use of Text

Students should actively read the text. •

Close Reading

Students use annotation strategies, for the defined purpose. Students discuss understandings of the text, building on and learning from each other. Students re-engage with text multiple times for multiple purposes, building deep understanding. Students apply understanding of the text through a new task.

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Vocabulary

Students will understand and be able to use word solving strategies to determine meanings of words in context and interpret meaning of texts.

Students should engage in writing in order to express learning, gain knowledge, engage with text, demonstrate growth, and communicate with the world around them.

Writing

Students should engage in authentic academic dialogue in order to express learning, gain knowledge, collaborate, demonstrate growth, and communicate with the world around them.

Structured Academic Discussion

Students should engage in improving understanding of language and conventions by applying lessons to their own writing through revision and editing.

Language and Conventions