Balanced Literacy in 6th Grade Humanities

PLO Goals

● Deepen my knowledge of content and concepts that support a balanced literacy classroom

● Be better prepared in providing concrete strategies and structures focusing on student reading, writing, and talking

● Reflect on and use experiences to plan for a greater balance of student reading, writing, and talking in lessons and units

PLO Learnings

● Components of balanced literacy

● Strategies to celebrate students’ work regularly because writing is meant to be shared

● Methods to provide students with opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen

● Give students time to plan and prepare for celebrations

● Speaking and listening helps students generate ideas

● Models are useful guides for students

● Provide students with choice in assignments

● Partnerships promote lasting bonds that facilitate speaking and listening

● Students need class time to practice reading, writing, speaking and listening

Implementation of Techniques and Practices

● Designed pacing chart that establishes time for partner talk

● Incorporated writing models into lesson plans

● Created partnerships based on student input

Impact

● Classwide average for the 1st marking increased 0.2 from 88.3 in 2015-16 to 88.7 in 2016-17 with balanced literacy

● Classwide average for the 2nd marking period increased 2.9 points from 88.5 in 2015-16 to 91.6 in 2016-17, reflecting the effectiveness of balanced literacy strategies

● Students have more ownership in their work because balanced literacy encourages them to generate original ideas for the final essay

● Partnerships elevate work quality by pushing students to support their ideas with textual evidence and explain their thinking and cultivate a safe space for students to support each other, allowing students to think more deeply in discussions and writing

● Lesson plans allocated time for students to read, write, speak, and listen

● Students are visibly and audibly excited when they arrive to class and the Do Now reads “Sit with reading partners”

Conclusion

● Balanced literacy and student partnerships promotes student engagement and a sense of community

● Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are related

● Students need class time to practice and develop balanced literacy skills which will help them develop their higher order thinking skills

● Balanced literacy supports students by creating multiple entry points

● Speaking and listening are a valuable pre-writing steps

Next Steps

● Celebrate students work during each lesson

● Continue to design lessons around balanced literacy

● Promote ownership and engagement by allowing students to select reading partners to practice balanced literacy skills

● Encourage students to reflect about their work regularly

● Create partnerships regularly for ELA work and implement them in social studies to reinforce balanced literacy

● Cultivate a community that recognizes and encourages students who take risks in their thinking and work