Topic: Daily Lit Bit

With assessment, teachers learn what students know. With The Literacy Continuum, teachers know what students need to know next.

Assessment is the key factor in reaching the below-level reader in the upper grades. Teachers must be able to discuss effective and ineffective reading behaviors, as well as how text being read by students may or may not be supportive of new learning.

The ability to observe, analyze, and interpret reading behavior is foundational to effective teaching.

The primary purpose of assessment is to gather data to inform teaching. If assessment does not result in improved teaching then its value in school diminishes greatly.

Language weaves a community together, and it is developed through communication and problem solving. A common language has two advantages: (1) it enables teachers to talk with each other in a meaningful way; and, (2) it communicates most clearly to students.

Guided reading is not the entire literacy program; rather, it is a vital and necessary part of it. We discuss a design for literacy—one that can be built over time.

A common curriculum means coherence across the grades and supports a common language for talking about teaching and learning.

Responsive teaching means creating in the classroom a microcosm of democracy. Students are responsible, sensitive members of a community; they learn to work together, help each other and solve problems together.

We know that teachers are individuals, and of course, you develop your own individual styles. But in pursuit of coherence, hold some things in common across the school for the benefit of student learning.

Work with colleagues in your school to establish a set of core values that will form the backbone for every decision you make. A set of values is not the same as a comprehensive curriculum. It’s a known set of statements that gives you a touchstone against which to measure your decisions.

We favor embracing the open door and becoming part of a learning community of colleagues—all of whom share common goals, take risks, and find the rewards of continuous professional growth. This takes time and problem solving but if achieved, it will have big payoff for students.

When teachers with a common vision work together over time and have the lift of excellent professional learning, they develop a common knowledge about the nature of learning.

Materials themselves will help teachers grow professionally, but alongside that teachers need good professional development. Professional development makes the work come alive.

Through regular and planned professional development opportunities, you and your fellow teachers can further develop your craft, strengthen your instructional decision-making, and confidently deliver high-impact literacy instruction that enhances the learning experience of each student.

Poems provide children with an authentic opportunity to apply their knowledge of letter/sound relationships and word patterns and parts.

Shared reading of poetry helps children become aware of the phonological system of language, which is basic to providing a foundation for matching sounds with letters, letter clusters, and word parts.

You want your students to become flexible in their understanding of words. They need to realize that words can have shades of meaning – they need to understand slightly different meanings in different texts.

The combination of discovery and direct teaching makes learning efficient and memorable; teaching prompts discovery.