Literacy

Ben arrived in September with a huge grin on his face. He was ready for grade 1! Ben was articulate and knowledgeable, an engaged learner. December rolled around and Ben had acquired a few sight words. He wanted to read, was excited to read, yet had along way to go.

The grade 6 students settle down as the lesson begins. A few scan the room, intrigued by the novel presence of three teachers and one administrator,  clipboards  in their hands. I begin the lesson; the topic is note taking and summarizing from informational text.

In the spring of 2005, I read Teaching for Deep Understanding: Towards the Ontario Curriculum that We Need. By the time I had finished the book, I was inspired to write and facilitate a professional book study for the Junior staff at Armitage Village Public School in Newmarket, where I am the divisional lead teacher and literacy special education resource teacher.

Last year Bobbie Chatha became a coach at her school, supporting colleagues as they looked for ways to improve literacy instruction.

As a classroom teacher, I was encouraged to use the “before-during-after” model in planning my reading lessons. Now as a resource consultant,  I promote this model in math instruction  also.

This activity was born out of our desire – the Grade 4 teacher and mine– to create a partnership that will blend drama and research skills, writing skills and a love of literature, art appreciation and their social studies unit on medieval times.

Literacy has become a priority in Ontario schools: uninterrupted literacy blocks are now part of the daily timetable in many primary and junior classrooms.

Home and school partnerships that keep going and going...