ELA UNITS
K-12
Curriculum Vision
The School District of Philadelphia’s curriculum is culturally and linguistically inclusive and provides teachers and leaders with resources and strategies to foster curiosity, critical thinking, and discourse around meaningful and relevant grade-level content, while recognizing the brilliance and experiences all of our students bring to the classroom.
Literacy Instructional Expectations:
Literacy instruction focuses on the holistic development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. The skills are interconnected and growth in one area produces growth in another area as research has found them to be reinforcing vocabularies with reading and listening being receptive and writing and speaking being expressive. However, language develops differently in each of these vocabularies where contemporary research has found that speaking and listening capacity is achieved in a different region of the brain than reading and writing, which must be intentionally mapped through regular practice aimed at building fluency. The grade-level standards and text drive the instruction and are analyzed during the intellectual preparation process. As students intertwine and enhance reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, students deepen content knowledge, expand vocabulary, gain fluency (in all components - reading, writing, speaking, and listening), understand how grammar provides clarity, and learn how to comprehend and analyze their own and others’ reading, writing, and speaking.