Teaching literacy to students means that they are given the ability to communicate clearly and effectively and form the foundation of modern life. Students that can’t read effectively fail to grasp important concepts, score poorly on tests and ultimately, fail to meet educational milestones. Literacy skills allow students to seek out information, explore subjects in-depth and gain a deeper understanding of the world around them. When they can not read well, they become discouraged and frustrated by school, which can result in high school dropouts, poor performance on standardized tests, increased truancy1 and other negative reactions, all of which can have major and long-lasting repercussions.2 By teaching students to communicate effectively, you help create engaged students who learn to love the act of learning. This is why it is so important to think about your strategies for teaching literacy skills in your classroom.
Literacy skills may be the focus in language arts classes, but they are equally necessary for math, science, art, music, and any other course work. Students who cannot understand the material in a textbook may fall behind, which is particularly problematic in classes with information-dense textbooks like science. “Meeting the Reading Challenges of Reading Science Textbooks in Primary Grades,” by Nadine Bryce, addresses this specific issue with a variety of instructional methods that incorporate reading for meaning and active literacy strategies. This helps science teachers overcome the hurdle of student achievement when blocked by low literacy levels, disorganized texts, and high-level vocabulary. The ability to absorb and understand the content is an essential skill for every student, in every class. This makes incorporating literacy skills into every classroom necessary.
When answering word problems in math class, encourage students to write long-form answers, not simply jot down a number. Children who excel at reading3 routinely score better on math skills challenges related to problem-solving, estimation, data interpretation, and math concepts. The challenge facing teachers is incorporating literacy skills into every lesson plan in a way that makes sense. For math classes, word problems and practical math applications use literacy skills for problem-solving. In science classes, lab reports should be detail oriented and contain step-by-step processes. With art, a picture can say a thousand words, but make sure students can verbalize or write down their reactions to what they create or see. By bringing literacy into every classroom, students receive added exposure and learn that reading is an essential life skill.
Writing plays several roles in the classroom. It helps further cement new concepts by allowing students to describe these items in their own words. It encourages logical thinking by forcing students to organize their thoughts. It also helps them learn how to tell a story, communicate ideas and record important moments. The National Writing Project is one of the longest running development programs in the U.S. It offers a variety of literacy workshops designed to help teachers incorporate writing skills in the classroom.
Keep in mind that long form essays are just a single facet of developing writing skills. In the future, students will spend much more time writing brief replies to emails or jotting down to-do lists. Be sure to incorporate those types of tasks in the classroom, so they have experience with both essays and more day-to-day writing skills.
When students are engaged in literacy they are engaged in learning, but students are not prepared to dive into the written word and immediately extract all of the valuable content. They need instructional guidance on how to read critically, understand the material and implement what they have learned. As a teacher, you can provide the necessary framework using concepts such as previewing text, reading with a purpose, predicting and making connections and the use of graphic organizers.
In addition to quick literacy assignments in class, students need to develop reading stamina. Give them the practice they need by developing a classroom library.4 Offering well-written texts that are not necessarily related to the class subject can encourage students to read for fun and information. For example, a biology classroom might have texts dealing with animals, but it might also have a few that relate to plants or minerals. While these are not directly related, they do have a place in the scientific nature of the class, and allow students to find information in their areas of interest.
As a teacher, one of your goals should be to develop a love of literacy in students. Keep in mind that the classroom library can extend to fiction, poetry, fantasy, and many other genres. Don’t limit the selection to education materials. The goal of the library is to get kids reading, not limit their content strictly to material related to the current curriculum. The more reading material available to them, the more likely they are to pick up something for fun. Also, never overlook the value of magazines. Many students may not be willing to pick up a full-length novel, but they might be happy to browse through a magazine article or two.
While all aspects of literacy are critical to eventual success, for most students, the process starts with reading skills. These skills form the foundation for all other learning, which is a large part of the reasoning behind the wide adoption of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) curriculum programs.5 These new standards put the responsibility for teaching literacy skills on the backs of all teachers, not just language arts instructors.
To learn more about how to develop literacy skills at any educational level, explore the online master’s degree and graduate certificate in reading education and the reading specialist licensure endorsement offered by the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at the University of Kansas School of Education and Human Sciences.
Resources
1. dera.ioe.ac.uk/5074/1/indexexclusions.html
2.socialworkers.org/advocacy/school/documents/School%20Truancy%20and%20Dropout%20Prevention.pdf
3. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18473206
4. scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1071&context=reading_horizons
5. cde.ca.gov/re/cc/
Best Practices
Teaching Strategies
It’s never too early to nurture children’s development of language and literacy skills. Even at a very young age, experiencing different genres of books, hearing stories from the adults who care about them, and exploring books alone or with peers helps them learn how to listen to and understand language and how to share their thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
Below we highlight eight ways to support language and literacy skills development in your own early childhood classroom.
- Capture children’s interest before you read.
Have children sitting on the edge of their seats before the story even begins! Before your next read-aloud, take a moment to get children interested by providing an exciting overview of the story they’re about to hear. Not sure what this looks like? Below, Vice Chair of the Board Kai-leé Berke provides a few examples so you can see this technique in action.
- Introduce vocabulary during a read-aloud.
Select a few words to highlight and define for children before you begin the read-aloud. Choose words that are important to understanding the meaning of the story and then define the words as you read. You can define words during a read-aloud by pointing out part of an illustration that shows the meaning of a word, showing facial expressions or moving your body in a way that provides explanation, or giving a brief definition. - Share the see-show-say strategy with families.
See-show-say is an easy, 3-part strategy that you can share with families for conducting read-alouds at home. In the below video, Breeyn Mack demonstrates how adults can invite children to see, show, and say what they’re experiencing in the story.
- Highlight children’s favorite books.
Highlighting children’s favorite books during read-aloud time is a great way to get them engaged and keep their attention. Encourage children to talk about their favorite books and share their recommendations with others. Keep sticky notes and pencils in the Library area so children can identify their favorite books. Ask them to write their name on the sticky note and then place it inside the book’s cover; then, at read-aloud time, you can point out that this book is Charlie or Lia’s favorite. - Establish read-aloud routines.
Young children thrive with consistent, predictable routines, so it’s important to establish regular times for reading. We recommend scheduling time for read-alouds at least twice a day. - Read in small groups.
To get the most literacy learning out of a read-aloud experience, make sure you take the time to read to children in small groups. Research shows that children who hear stories in small-group settings develop stronger comprehension skills, ask and answer more questions, and comment more on the text. So while you’re probably already reading aloud to large groups of children, try to find time for these small-group interactions, too! - Support children who are learning two languages.
To support dual-language learners, include books and recorded readings in children’s first languages and wordless books in your classroom book collection. Whenever you can, read the story in the child’s first language before reading in English.
- Start early! Read with infants and toddlers.
Make reading physically interactive by inviting children to hold the book and turn the pages, if they are physically able, or offering them a toy to hold while you’re reading. Focus their attention by pointing to and naming the things in the pictures. And be prepared to read the same books over and over again—very young children thrive on routine and repetition.
Below, Natalie demonstrates what a read-aloud could look like in a real classroom.
To learn more about using read-alouds in your classroom, view our video series and additional resources for proper read-aloud techniques here.
Read-Alouds can happen at home and at school, with children of all ages. Our Digital Children’s Library makes books available, digitally, to children and families at all time. Each book can be read independently or with narration.
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