How to Structure a Literacy Block

A structured literacy block gives students a chance to learn in greater depth.

Educators must strike a balance between raising test scores and making a literacy course a relative and positive learning experience for student. It's a difficult task to take on, especially now that technology is changing the way youth think about literature and its role in their lives. Well designed literary blocks balance the two sides by focusing on developing and deepening the understanding of concepts as opposed to accomplishment of curriculum.

Things You'll Need

• Class texts
• Unit plan
• Supplemental texts/materials

Instructions

1. Determine the goal of the block. Student learning goals and expectations, as well as associated skills stem from the curriculum. Knowing the goals of the students for the entire year will filter down to planning the goals for each corresponding unit and lesson. The goals may require you to occasionally change the structure of the block, depending on the students' achievement levels.

2. Develop a sequence for the teaching and learning experience. How will you guide the students towards accomplishing the lesson's goal? Try engaging your students by opening up with a question that is on the students' level and seems to have little to do with literacy or reading. Use themes or ideas from a text they will to read. All tasks should involve interaction with the main text being used.

3. Plan assessments. Make a detailed list of what activities you expect the students to complete and how you will guide them along the way. You need evidence of what level of understanding the students achieve. This can include quizzes, tests, work samples or observations. Having the students complete a self-assessment or reflection of their progress is recommended for reinforcing the importance of understanding the learning process.

4. Predict your pacing. In your sequence for a day's literacy block make notes on each item's priority, and how long it will take for your class to accomplish each task. As you do this, you'll notice which of your plans can be omitted and which ones need more time. As you teach the literacy block, this can change, but at least you have thought you ideas out enough to accommodate for it.

5. Plan a sponge activity. There are days when lessons fly by so smoothly that you're left with extra time at the end of the lesson. Consider some silent reading time where the students can freely embrace their own chosen texts, or perhaps a light improvisational game that brings the setting and characters in a reading to life.

References

• Why Read?; Mark Edmundson; 2004
• Reading for Understanding; Ruth Schoenbach, Cynthia Greenleaf, Christine Cziko, and Lori Hurwitz; 1999
• Understanding by Design; Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe; 2006