Reading & Literacy

The beliefs and practices underlying the teaching of reading in MUSD are guided by educational research on best practices in literacy.  Reading is the active and cognitive process of making meaning from print.  The goal of reading is to comprehend and apply what is read to real-world experiences.  Our goal is to develop life-long learners who are independent and proficient readers.

Reading instruction is multidimensional and must include the five pillars of reading: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension.  Effective instruction of these components is systematic and explicit.  This is best achieved through a Gradual Release of Responsibility approach that supports the development of students’ communication skills through reading, writing, speaking and listening.

The Gradual Release of Responsibility approach incorporates different types of  instruction:  Modeling reading strategies through thinking or Reading Aloud, Shared Reading, Small Group Reading, and Independent Reading.  The acquisition of reading skills is developmental and these approaches enable instruction to be differentiated based on the needs and skill levels of each student.  In this way, literacy independence is fostered while using a gradual release of responsibility.

Reading is a process that includes relevant literacy experiences before, during and after reading.  Therefore, opportunities for discussing, reflecting, listening, and questioning in conjunction with reading and writing are fundamental. Experiences with rich vocabulary and language promote reading comprehension.  

Reading and writing are essential for learning.  Students learn to read and write and use writing and reading to learn.  Effective reading instruction is connected to written and oral language and is integrated into all content areas. 

By including the five pillars of reading, while providing relevant literacy experiences, we will meet our goal of developing life-long learners who are independent and passionate readers.

Learning to Read:

The purpose for reading any text is to construct the meaning of the text’s content.  We explicitly and systematically teach students skills and strategies to decode and comprehend the text.  Reading is an active and cognitive process that uses these skills and strategies in context.  As students are reading to construct meaning in the whole text, skills and strategies are practiced and assessed.

The explicit and systematic teaching, practice and assessing of reading skills and strategies may occur in various instructional approaches. Phonemic Awareness and Phonics instruction will occur explicitly and systematically, so that students can gain the skills necessary for successful decoding and encoding. These skills, along with vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension skills, will be included in various instructional approaches that range from a teacher think aloud modeling the process to students reading books independently.  Each instructional approach values the collaborative process as teachers and students are reading and learning together.  Reading instruction is differentiated depending on the needs and interests of developing readers.

Reading to Learn: 

Reading, writing, listening and speaking (language) are tools used to construct the meaning of content, for example math, social studies, science or literature.  These tools develop our thinking and knowledge as we engage with content.  As we use these tools for learning, we have opportunities to sharpen and develop them.

Reading is necessary to learn in every content area.  Students in our classrooms represent a wide range of background knowledge, life experiences and reading levels.  Teaching students how to read content area text, specifically looking at text organization as well as addressing content rich vocabulary and comprehension strategies, is an essential part of life-long learning.  

Five Pillars of Reading Instruction:

Phonemic Awareness

• Students must have the ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds, phonemes and spoken words.  We explicitly teach phonemic awareness skills through exposure to language, songs and rhyme.

Phonics

• Students use phonics as one strategy to decode text.  Phonics skills are taught systematically and explicitly and then practiced within text.  Students also practice in word work, writing and whole text.

Vocabulary

• Students bring background knowledge to the text to construct meaning.  We explicitly teach vocabulary that impacts the comprehension process.

Fluency

• Students must read with fluency, which includes accuracy, expression, phrasing and rate.
• Fluent readers are able to concentrate on the construction of meaning in the text.

Comprehension

• Students read to construct meaning. We explicitly teach comprehension strategies/skills so our readers are able to construct a variety of meanings from a text.  Comprehension strategies are discussed and assessed as readers are constructing meaning from the text.

**The pillars of reading instruction should be practiced and assessed within text 

Gradual Release of Responsibility Instruction 

Interactive Read Aloud

Read Alouds are used to model the complexity of the reading process. Students gain implicit knowledge of the syntax or structure of written language and expand their vocabulary while listening to text.  Students listen to text that may be at or above their instructional reading levels. Read Alouds have the power to inspire students to love reading because they are focusing on making meaning of the text.  

• Close Reading
• Fiction and Non-Fiction
• Think Alouds
• Model fluency

Shared Reading
Shared Reading is used to teach the complexity of the reading process through a supportive and collaborative approach. Students read grade level  text with support from their teacher and peers.  

• Focus lesson
• Think Alouds
• Close Reading
• Whole group or small group
• Introduce and reinforce content area vocabulary
• Introduce text structures and text features
• Teacher and students are fully engaged in the process, choral reading, partner reading
• Literature charts, poetry, content area texts, various genres

Small Group Reading
Small group reading instruction is used to support students at their instructional level.  Teachers differentiate their instruction as they coach and support students to use effective strategies for processing increasingly difficult levels of text. 

• Running records and instructional level text
• Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Instruction
• Before, during and after vocabulary and comprehension strategies
• Guide students in using text structures and text features to access text
• Skill strategies practiced within instructional level texts
• Strategy checks-coaching readers to  use previously taught strategies
• Oral and Written Response to text

Independent Reading
Independent Reading provides a daily opportunity for students to enjoy reading books while practicing strategies that have been internalized. 

• Self-selected
• Independent reading level
• Life-long readers
• Reading to learn
• Reading for pleasure
• Comfortable areas

The beliefs and practices underlying the teaching of writing in MUSD are guided by educational research on best practices in literacy. Writing is the process of constructing text to facilitate our thinking and communicate clearly. Writers write for many purposes. Our goal is to develop life-long learners who are independent and proficient writers.

Writing is a process that involves five distinct steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and final draft/publishing. It is a recursive process as writers revisit prewriting steps to develop and expand their ideas. Each step of the process is explicitly taught and then practiced as students compose relevant content. Handwriting, typing, spelling, grammar and conventions are embedded within the steps of the process. 

Writing-to-learn activities and strategies facilitate the thinking process that occurs while we are learning. The content may come from curricular areas such as Science, Math and Social Studies. As students are using writing to learn they are engaging in various aspects of the writing process. For example:

Writing-to-Learn Activities

• Freewriting to tap into prior knowledge; research tools including graphic organizers, note cards, etc.
• What did I learn? Reports, powerpoints, drama, art
• What can I do with this information?

Learning to Write – Writing Process

• Prewriting- developing ideas
• Rough drafts, editing, final copies 
• Publishing

The Writing Process

Reading and writing are essential for learning. Students learn to write and read and use writing and reading to learn. By teaching and supporting writers through the writing process, we give students the skills and understanding they need to use writing to communicate and enhance their thinking, while seeing themselves as writers!

Developing Ideas

• Why are you writing? Determine purpose:
  • Develop thinking
  • Communicate clearly
  • Tool for learning - content area
  • Literacy

Drafting

• Generating Idea
  • Consider 6 traits - purpose and audience

Revising

• Revisiting/Re-seeing Content Ideas
  • Consider 6 traits - purpose and audience

Editing

• Grammar, Spelling, Organization

Final Draft / Publishing

• Product-Sharing the writing with self or others

Teaching the Process

Writers use all phases of the writing process for different purposes. For example, if a student is writing to facilitate the thinking process during note taking, the writer will not go beyond the drafting phase. Alternatively, if the writer is writing to share research/information, the writer will proceed through all the phases of the writing process.

The explicit and systematic teaching, practice and assessment of writing skills and strategies may occur in various instructional approaches. These instructional approaches range from a teacher modeling writing to demonstrate the complexity of the writing process to a student independently composing text to facilitate learning or communication. Each instructional approach values the collaborative process as teachers and students are writing and learning together. Writing instruction is differentiated depending on the needs of the developing writers.

Writing is frequent and consistent. The writing process is purposeful and equally important to the product. The final product could be any stage of the writing process. Students will receive and integrate feedback from students and teachers in order to develop effective writing skills.

Assessing the Process

Rubrics are used to share expectations for an assignment, provide focused feedback on works in progress, and grade final products. Grade level rubrics define expectations for an assignment by listing the criteria and describing levels of quality. Teachers will use rubrics to clarify for students the standards of a quality performance and to guide feedback about progress toward those standards.

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The writing process and skills will be taught through a balanced literacy framework. The acquisition of writing skills is developmental and these approaches enable instruction to be differentiated based on the needs and skill levels of each student. This framework incorporates a variety of approaches: 

• Modeled Writing (or writing aloud) is practiced when the teacher demonstrates various aspects of how one writes and models the complexity of the writing process. Students gain implicit knowledge of the syntax or structure of written language and expand their vocabulary while observing the construction of text. 
• Shared writing is used to teach the complexity of the writing process through a supportive and collaborative approach. Students construct text with support from teachers and peers. Teachers help students with every aspect of the writing process.
• Guided writing is used to support the students as they write in small groups. Teachers differentiate their instruction as they coach and support students to use effective strategies for composing increasingly complex levels of texts.
• Independent writing provides a daily opportunity for students to write a variety of authentic text while practicing writing strategies and processes that have been internalized. The more a writer uses writing to facilitate thinking and communication, the more the writer will see and use writing for these purposes.