Literacy Now

As a first-grade teacher for nearly a decade, I enjoyed nothing more than teaching early readers to unlock the code and discover the joy of books. Three years ago, I was hired as the literacy coach for my district. In this role, I led professional development sessions on teaching reading in the primary grades, training teachers and support staff on explicit, systematic instruction, and managed committees on English language arts curriculum.

Then in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, our district moved to remote learning. Everything I had been teaching other educators involved in-person, hands-on instruction. I was dismayed. How could we ever reproduce literacy instruction in a distance learning format?

But no matter the venue, whether on-site, remote, or a hybrid format, teachers can continue delivering high-quality literacy instruction. The following tips have helped me, and I hope will do the same for others tasked with teaching reading and writing virtually.

1. Remember your classroom must-dos.

When teaching reading, replicate good practices virtually. As you would with a traditional lesson plan, begin with your goal in mind and then consider how it can be achieved through the screen. What do you want the students to learn? How can you get them there? Then consider your learning plan, materials, and opportunities for practice and frequent feedback.

For example, our primary-grade teachers deliver daily phonics lessons with the learning goal that students will accurately encode and decode words with a targeted skill. Teachers must start with explicit instruction, just like they would in the classroom. In a remote setting, rather than using printed letter cards, use an online letter program such as Really Great Reading. Or, when it’s time for guided practice, have students create letter tiles on small pieces of paper to manipulate at home.

Encourage participation by asking different groups to answer a question using a cue such as “Everyone wearing a red shirt unmute yourself and share out.” For individual practice, have students submit a picture of written work through digital platforms like Seesaw or Google Classroom. As you would in the classroom, form small groups for remediation or enrichment. You can schedule a breakout room or office hours for students who need more one-on-one support.

2. Let parents in on the learning.

Understandably, most parents are not experts in reading instruction. Part of our job during remote learning has been to provide parents with tools to support their children and give parents context and background about the instructional practices we use. Sharing the purpose of strategies and routines and offering specific ways to help at home is critical.

I put together a bitmoji classroom for parents. This page includes a range of videos, from the technical side (the five pillars of literacy) to the practical (what is phoneme segmentation, and how can I do it at home?). When I communicate with parents, I offer this page as a resource for at-home practice. For those who are not easily able to help with work at home, they can at least build an understanding of the work their child is doing.

3. Mix it up!

One of the biggest complaints I have heard from teachers (and students) amid the pandemic is that they are teaching whole-group lessons for long blocks of time. This is not something we typically do in elementary school. So, let’s consider how that can be adjusted for virtual learning.

What if you create small groups for learning centers? After setting up expectations, create five breakout rooms. Just as you would in the classroom, pop into each room for a few minutes to answer questions, check progress, and monitor behavior.

Is there an opportunity for students to work in pairs, writing together? Create different Google slides, each with a prompt, and assign two students to each slide. To make it purposeful, come back together and have partners share out with the whole class.

Do the students need to work on something independently? Have the students turn on their cameras, set a timer on the screen, and let them work at their own pace. Then, come back together to check on their status and make instructional decisions based on their progress.

4. Take it off screen.

Students need to read to learn to navigate text. Reading aloud to students or just guiding them through activities is not enough. Give students time to read away from the computer screen. I know releasing that control over to students, not knowing what they are doing when you can’t see them, can be scary. But I encourage you to give them off-screen tasks and gather feedback on how they do. Make the learning purposeful, and the students will be engaged in the task.

For example, our third-grade students have to find text evidence from the nonfiction book Giant Squid: Searching for a Sea Monster by Mary M. Cerullo. When off screen, the students can look through the text to find interesting facts and write those down to share the next day. Students can use this information to create something—a paragraph, a drawing, or a diorama—allowing students to express creativity, own their learning, and demonstrate understanding.

That there is a lot lost during remote learning is true. I miss the clamor of a full classroom talking excitedly about a favorite book, the coming together around the carpet for meetings and lessons, and the expressions of friendship you see on the playground and in the cafeteria. But if we get creative, focus on what matters, and work diligently to meet students’ needs, we can still teach in joyful and effective ways.

Katy Tarasi is an elementary literacy coach in the Avonworth School District near Pittsburgh, PA, and a fellow with the Great Minds’ Wit & Wisdom English Language Arts team. In that capacity, she delivers professional development and coaching to educators around the United States.

In these stressful times, focusing on our main literacy goal for kindergartners—learning the alphabetic principle, which is the foundational skill of all writing and reading—is essential.

ILA’s Literacy Glossary defines alphabetic principle as the concept that letters or groups of letters in alphabetic orthographies (i.e., written systems) represent the phonemes (sounds) of spoken language.

Four decades ago, Carol Chomsky encouraged preschool, kindergarten, and first graders to try to write before they read because of the valuable practice they received from translating sound to print. Around that time, Charles Read demonstrated that some young children made up the spellings of the words they speak by listening to the individual sounds (phonemes) in words and then attempting to find written letters (graphemes) to represent those phonemes. Connecting sounds to letters in this manner is called invented spelling. Invented spelling not only helps develop the alphabetic principle but also is the best predictor of reading according to Charles Temple and colleagues, Donald Bear and colleagues, and Marie Clay.

Promoting invented spelling

As a literacy consultant who has worked in more than 100 kindergarten classrooms over the past 34 years, I have found that teachers understand students actively construct their own literacy learning about phoneme–grapheme correspondences when they engage in the process of meaningful writing of their own choosing. However, this leads educators to seek out ways to help their students write with inventing spelling.

Invented spelling can be challenging when students write random strings of symbols or mix numbers and shapes with mock letters. To help this issue, I devised Getting Ready, a daily learning structure that should precede writers’ workshop. Getting Ready uses two song strategies and three sound–letter connecting strategies.

Getting Ready: Two song strategies

The first song strategy, ABC Song Strategy, helps students find—and, when ready, write—letters of their choosing. It is sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and requires both an ABC chart for class use and individual ABC strips for each student to use as they write independently.

The second song strategy, The Name Song, helps students hear beginning individual sounds in spoken words (phonemic awareness). It is sung to the tune of “Skip to My Lou.” I begin teaching this strategy with sound matching by having students try to match the sound I say with the beginning sound in one of their classmate’s names.

When most of the class can successfully sound match, I proceed to sound isolation, which is basically a reverse of sound matching: I say a student’s name and the student’s classmates must isolate the first sound in the name. Students love playing with their classmates’ names like this.

Getting Ready: Three sound–letter connecting strategies

After kindergartners can isolate individual beginning sounds in classmate’s names, I proceed to teach three sound­­–letter connecting strategies.

The first strategy shown in the video clip is Connecting Sound to Picture. Students isolate the beginning sound in a classmate's name and then look for a picture on the class ABC chart that begins with the same matching sound. 

The second strategy shown is Connecting Sound to Letter Name. Students isolate the beginning sound in a classmate's name and then look at the class ABC chart and try to find a letter name that has the same sound.

The third strategy shown is Connecting Sound to Classmate's Name. Students isolate the beginning sound in a classmate's name and then connect the sound to the first letter of that classmate's name. 

I have observed kindergartners using these strategies on their own as they attempt to write in writers’ workshop. Continuing to guide students as they practice these strategies though the use of daily writing workshop conferences is most helpful.

Verify the value

To prove these strategies improve kindergartners’ understanding of the alphabetic principle, I use Clay’s Dictation Test as found in Clay’s An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement. This test is designed to check a student’s ability to hear individual sounds in words. However, it also checks the student’s understanding of the alphabetic principle.

When Clay’s Dictation Test is administered individually to kindergartners, they attempt to write what they hear in the following sentence as it is read aloud very slowly:

I can see the red boat that we are going to have a ride in.

One point is scored for each sound heard and recorded appropriately as a letter. A perfect score is 37. 

The following images, which are copies of tests I administered to students myself, show results from the student who scored the highest of the class (19/37) at the beginning of the year (image A) and who had a perfect score (37/37) at the end of the year (image B).

Compare this with the progress of the student who scored the lowest in the class (0/37) at the beginning of the year (test not shown). This student improved significantly (28/37) by the end of the year (see below).

Notice the progress both students have made. That the rest of the kindergarten class was equally successful and scored somewhere between a 28 and 37 on Clay’s Dictation Test is worth noting.

The results of Clay’s Dictation Test verify that all 20 students in this kindergarten class could write with invented spelling, which demonstrates an understanding of sound­–letter relationships, the alphabetic principle. All these students became writer–readers.

I have seen similar results across the many kindergarten classes where writers’ workshop and the Getting Ready strategy were used as I have described. Knowledge of the alphabetical principle allows every student to be a writer–reader, and the strategies I have described are a highly effective way to teach it.

Arlene C. Schulze is a longtime reading teacher and specialist. She holds a degree in elementary education from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a master's degree in reading from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point (UWSP).

She has been a K­–2 literacy consultant to three school systems in North Central Wisconsin and a literacy instructor in reading and language arts at UWSP for many years.  She is the author of the book Helping Children Become Readers Through Writing: A Guide to Writing Workshop in Kindergarten. She is currently coaching kindergarten teachers and tutoring struggling readers in northern Wisconsin.

Listening to students read aloud is an essential practice for any primary-grade teacher. It is no less essential than a swimming coach watching children swim or a piano teacher listening to a child play. Listening to students read aloud provides an important opportunity for the teacher to coach or prompt students when they are stuck on a word or when they encounter other problems when reading. (For a discussion of research-informed practices for prompting students during reading, see Nell’s piece in the upcoming November issue of ASCD’s Educational Leadership).

Running records

Traditionally, many educators have used running records to derive information from listening to students read aloud. An advantage of running records is that they can be taken anytime that a student is reading aloud using only a scrap of paper.

A challenge with running records is that the data they yield are so open ended that the data can lead to misinterpretation. For example, some people have interpreted the misreading of words in a running record to be positive as long as the words make sense in context (e.g., being satisfied when students read glass for cup). Although it is certainly important that readers engage in sense-making when they read, for word identification, attending to the letters and groups of letters in words is the critical skill of successful readers. In addition, running records explicitly signal only a few aspects of reading to attend to. There are many aspects of the complex act of reading that are worthy of educators’ attention when listening to a student read.

LTR-WWWP

To address these challenges, we have developed a tool to guide the process of listening to students read aloud and observing them write: The Listening to Reading-Watching While Writing Protocol (LTR-WWWP). Like running records, the LTR-WWWP can be applied any time a student is reading or writing anything in the classroom—a truly curriculum-based assessment—but unlike running records, the tool provides much more guidance about what to listen for in the student’s reading.

For example, the tool lists specific word identification strategies that research suggests are good for students to use—such as chunking a word or trying an alternate vowel sound. It does not list strategies that are not desirable. In fact, everything on the LTR-WWWP is a potential instructional target: something specific that you can teach or work on. The tool doesn’t yield a “level” or a “score” but rather points to specific foci for instruction—a graphophonemic relationship to teach (e.g., sh = /sh/), a strategy to teach (e.g., rereading), a skill to teach (e.g., attending to specific punctuation marks to support fluent reading), a text feature to teach, and so on. 

Although we provide considerable guidance in the form regarding what to look for in a student’s reading (and writing, as discussed below), it is an informal tool. You can tailor its use to what would be most helpful to inform instruction. This means you can pause at any point during the reading to ask students questions (e.g., Is that a new word for you? Do you know what it means? How did you figure that out?), encourage students to share their thinking at any time, and even provide needed instruction.

Dr. Ashelin Currie of Oakland Schools, who was among the educators who piloted the tool, commented on “the humanity of the tool.” She wrote, “Especially during this time, we need to connect with our students as human beings. I'm doing this assessment to learn about you/the child. I'm interested in learning about you as a reader.”

Reading and writing

Reading and writing are deeply related. Students’ knowledge and skills in one area are typically closely related to their knowledge and skills in the other (think knowledge of informational text features and skill in decoding and spelling). Therefore, we designed the LTR-WWWP so that it could be used for writing as well as for reading.

As with reading, there is great potential value in watching the process of students writing, even for just a short portion of the time during which they are doing so. Depending on the phase(s) of writing you observe, you can address questions such as these:

• Did the student plan the writing?
• Did the student stretch words to spell them?
• Was the student gripping the writing utensil properly?
• Did the student use any resources to support vocabulary/word choice in the writing?
• Did the student use any strategies while editing the writing?

Information from these observations can be complemented by analysis of the writing sample itself (e.g., the spelling, text structure, ideas, voice). As with listening to reading, the purpose of these observations and analyses is to inform next steps for instruction.

Formative assessment

In sum, the LTR-WWWP is an informal formative assessment tool designed to help guide attention to particular aspects of the student’s reading or writing in order to inform next steps in instruction. In particular, the tool directs attention to the following:

• Reading and spelling of single-syllable or multisyllabic words
• Word identification or spelling strategies
• Letter formation/handwriting
• Comprehension monitoring
• Vocabulary strategies or word choice
• Fluency
• Comprehension (including general comprehension, reactions and responses, genre, strategies, text structure/organization, and features)
• Compreaction (i.e., processing the meaning of the text in relation to one’s purpose for reading—what one “does” with comprehension)
• Composition (including reactions and responses, genre, strategies, text structure/organization, text features, attention to purpose and audience, voice, content/ideas, sentence construction)

It is certainly not expected that all these aspects of literacy development would be addressed in every instance of using the LTR-WWWP. Rather, its use supports attention to these constructs over time, with the purpose of helping us make daily decisions to support the literacy growth of our students.

Accessing the LTR-WWWP 

A video presenting key points about the tool, detailed directions for using the tool, completed examples of the tool, a blank copy of the tool in printable and fillable PDF form, and videos of the use of the LTR-WWWP in action are available. Some of the videos were conducted in a remote/videoconference format.

Of course, there is much to say about what to do instructionally with the information the LTR-WWWP provides, but that is beyond the scope of this post. Also, it is important to note that the LTR-WWWP does not obviate the need for other assessment tools, such as systematic assessments of reading comprehension and letter–sound knowledge. Still, the focus of the tool on the actual acts of reading and writing, the fact that it can be used whenever a student is reading (aloud, at least) or writing, and the added level of guidance it provides over running records, make it a potentially valuable tool in our formative assessment portfolio.

ILA member Alessandra E. Ward is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan. Her work focuses on the literacy engagement of young learners. You can follow her on Twitter @wardalessandrae.

ILA member Nell K. Duke is a professor in literacy, language, and culture and also in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan. She is the recipient of ILA’s William S. Gray Citation of Merit for outstanding contributions to literacy research, theory, policy, and practice. You can follow her on Twitter @nellkduke.

ILA member Rachel Klingelhofer is a lecturer in the University of Michigan’s teacher education programs. Much of her teaching work is field instruction, where she helps interns apply what they are learning in real classrooms with real students.

To escape the fear of an uncertain start to the school year, I find myself reading more than ever before. I’ve always enjoyed reading, but in this season of social distancing and remote learning, it feels different. Lately, I find myself thinking of my students and considering how I can nurture their independent reading within my virtual classroom. Even with limited access, I do believe it’s not only possible but also necessary for my students to continue turning toward reading in challenging times or to fall in love with it for the first time. My hope is that, as readers, we can continue to grow and have our independent reading take on a new significance. Here are some suggestions of how you can encourage independent reading.

Host a book show-and-tell

Go “old school” and host a reading show-and-tell. Invite students to share their favorite book or what they’re currently reading. This is also a great way to introduce new authors and genres.

Invite guest readers

Although there are many online read-aloud resources available, students might be more interested to see familiar faces or be read to by someone with an authentic connection to the class. You can invite other educators, local libraries, or students’ family members and caregivers to read aloud.

Don’t be afraid to ask students who they would like to invite to a virtual read-aloud. It’s the perfect way to have your students experience new reading styles and continue to build school community.

Match reading buddies

Get to know your students’ reading interests by having them complete a reading interest survey. This will not only provide you with a wealth of information but also reveal which students have similar reading interests so that you can pair them. Encourage reading buddies to check in on each other to offer motivation and book recommendations.

Establish online book clubs

Reading is a social act. Join students together within an online book club using Zoom video breakout rooms. As the meeting host, you can start with the whole class and then place students into sub-meetings for discussions. You will be able to switch between these sub-meetings at any time.

Lead by example

Sharing your reading life is important, and you can do that easily with your students by using the Chrome extension Currently Reading for Gmail. Select the books you are currently reading from their database, and the titles will appear automatically in your email signature for your email recipients to see.

Promote audiobooks

One way to lure students into reading is through audiobooks. Audiobooks provide support for readers of all ages and allow students to hear fluent reading. Promote sites that offer free audiobooks, such as the following:

• Audible
• International Children’s Digital Library
• Lit2go

Encourage book talks

There are limitless possibilities for students to share their reading digitally, but Flipgrid and Padlet are two of my favorites. Allow students to choose which platform they feel comfortable using and have them share their reading and react to posts from their classmates.

Online learning can be stressful for everyone, but supporting independent reading remotely shouldn’t be. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but providing motivation and encouragement for reading is a good start.

Marie Havran is an elementary literacy specialist in Greenville, SC, and an adjunct professor at Furman University. Follow her on Twitter: @MarieHavran.

With schools looking at long-term closures because of coronavirus (COVID-19), ensuring that students can make the most of their studies at home is more important than ever.

The literacy and learning communities are well-equipped to help make online learning easier. In addition to ILA’s resources (including our tips for connecting with readers online and using web tools to communicate), an outpouring of support across industries has resulted in free assets educators and families and caregivers can use to engage their readers remotely.

Below, you’ll find a handful of the many offerings at your disposal during this uncertain time. We might be forced apart, but these resources ensure that we can all continue to learn together.

Access to Books and Literacy Instruction

• Wondering which books your students or children might enjoy? Check our Choices reading lists to find their next read (or 10). Each year, thousands of children, teens, and educators around the United States select their favorite recently published books. Use these lists to help your readers connect with comforting stories and find their next page-turner.
• With a free ReadWorks account, educators and parents can find web series, video tutorials, and support groups to help with reading comprehension.
• When physical books are unavailable, audiobooks save the day. For as long as schools are closed, Audible will open up its digital library, allowing children to stream a wide collection of stories across a number of languages.
• Teachers and homeschool educators can get a free one-year subscription to Vooks, a library of read-aloud animated storybooks.
• Keep kids reading with Epic!, a digital library for kids 12 and under. Families can receive 30 days of free access while educators can join the platform free through June 30.
• Until the end of June, Amazon Kindle Unlimited is offering free access to more than one million titles, for all ages and across all genres.
• Sync provides free audiobooks to readers 13 and older, with new titles featured weekly for a one-week borrow through the summer.

Community Resources and Library Programs

• Who said you need to travel the globe to see great art? Google Arts & Culture has teamed up with over 2,500 museums to bring the masterpieces of artists like Van Gogh and Monet right to your living room. Talk about a virtual field trip!
• If you’re looking to help your child or students understand the coronavirus pandemic, look to News-O-Matic, a daily virtual newspaper designed for kids. Young readers can experience the world while building media literacy skills and broadening their horizons. Teachers can receive free access until June 30.
• Throughout the United States, now-closed libraries, such as the New York Public Library and DC Public Library, are offering library card access through digital apps and websites. Check your local library website to see what offers are available.

Open Access Publisher Content

• Macmillan’s trade division is offering free online resources, including downloadable activity kits, audio content, and book-specific teaching guides, while the education arm is sharing webinars and opening up their digital tools.
• Scholastic’s Learn at Home program includes grade-appropriate projects and events, like virtual book fests, to keep children curious and engaged.
• Harper at Home from HarperCollins is offering daily read-alouds, author appearances, and book clubs for the whole family to enjoy.

Morgan Ratner is a freelance writer in Brooklyn, NY.