A Shift in My Approach to Literacy Instruction

This past spring I took an Early Literacy Development course and learned SO much. I have always loved teaching reading and writing and consider myself an "ELA Enthusiast." I felt quite confident in my ability to teach my students how to read and write, and I was excited to deepen my knowledge in this course. However, this course humbled me and showed me how much I really didn't know about reading, and it challenged the different ways I approached literacy instruction and reinforced others. The required course textbook was called "Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6" and focused on the Science of Reading. If you ever have the chance to take this course, I highly recommend you take it! It was without a doubt one of my favourite classes I have ever taken, due to the resources, knowledge, and practicality of the course.

For this blog, I decided to share how this course has shifted my approach to literacy instruction.

I Used to Think...	Now I Think...
Balanced Literacy was the goal (strongly encouraged by my school division).	Structured Literacy will be my new focus, while incorporating specific Balanced Literacy models required by my school division.
Surrounding students with literacy is important.	Continue to surround students with good quality literacy but also place a high importance on teaching explicitly and systemically.
Didn't clearly understand the importance of phonics but still taught it.	Clearly understands the extreme importance of phonics instruction.
Use of a Word Wall.	Use of a Sound Wall.
Tracked reading stamina and taught students how to find "good fit books."	No more reading stamina tracking and finding "good fit books." Instead, I will be spending time on explicit phonemic and phonological awareness instruction.
Use of animal reading strategies.	Continue to use animal reading strategies but ditch Eagle Eye, Sensible Seal, and Skippy Frog. I will also use recommended resources such as Heggerty and Spelfabet
Use of playful literacy centers without explicit instruction.	Use playful literacy centers following explicit instruction.
Never explicitly teaching vocabulary, but introduced it naturally as it came up in read alouds.	Explicitly teach vocabulary and use a vocabulary wall.
No explicit spelling instruction, encouraged magic writing and sounding out words.	More explicit spelling instruction, while continuing to encourage magic writing at the beginning of the year to increase student confidence.
Identified students by reading level.	Identify students by their phase of reading (and still at their reading level when required for data and school division requirements).
Use of Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark System (Required by my school division).	Still use Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Systems as required by my school division, but also include Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) assessments (specifically Acadience Learning resource).
Use of a sight word list that was not systemic.	Create and use a sight word list that is systemic.
No explicit fluency instruction, belief that students will improve fluency as they become better readers.	Explicit fluency instruction, incorporate the many activities for explicit teaching of reading learned in class, and use more songs and poems to build fluency.

As you can see, there are many things I will be changing in how I approach literacy instruction and some things that will stay the same. I am not saying one way or the other is right or wrong, but as I learned more about the Science of Reading and the research backing it, I knew what I wanted to change in my own instruction. If you do some of the things on the left hand column, it doesn't mean what you are doing is "wrong." I did all those things just this past school year (2021-2022). These are some of the changes I am personally making, as I continue to grow professionally.

I am new to Structured Literacy and the Science of Reading, but let me know if you have any questions and I will try my best to answer them! :)

XOXO,

Elle