At FRC, we began our literacy journey in 2010, with an emphasis on literacy strategies. Since then we have worked collaboratively to explore EAL learning, disciplinary literacy, differentiated literacy, 21st Century literacy and more. Read below to follow our journey.
Our Literacy Plan 2017/19
Venturing Down A New Path
Looking Back
It was seven years ago that FRC began our literacy journey in response to concerns that students were not reading as critically as they needed to tackle the often complicated texts we study in our various subject areas. We began with a literacy committee comprised of members from all our subject areas who wrestled with the definition of literacy and the implications for teachers. Our initial vision was “to create a literacy-rich high school that successfully develops the academic literacy habits and skills of all students”. The definition we arrived at was that, “to be literate means to competently make meaning of any symbolic representation of an object, idea or concept to create and communicate understanding.” Underpinning these ideas was the belief, as stated by Judith Irvin that “literacy is not something you add to an already crowded plate; literacy is the plate”. In other words, we believed that literacy is essential not only to success at school but in helping students become critically thinking, empathetic, active citizens in the world.
We began with a focus on making meaning of texts, looking at general comprehension strategies and moving to instructional strategies for all students and for striving and EAL learners in particular. In recent years we have focused on the idea of 21 Century learning and the critical literacies required for the digital world. Along the way we began offering Reading Is Thinking courses and saw the development of The Scribbler www.frcscribbler.com, our creative arts anthology. Most importantly, throughout the school we have seen teachers changing their practice to incorporate activities into their classrooms to help students understand a variety of texts and think critically.
Moving Forward
Having become more adept at helping students comprehend and think critically and creatively, we are turning our attention to helping them communicate more effectively. The reasons for this shift go beyond it seeming the logical next step in our journey. Over the first number of years of this century it has become apparent that we are becoming not just consumers, but producers of information. Our students already have their own websites and You Tube channels, not to mention myriads of social media sites. Coupled with this ability to publish is the connectedness our young people have to the issues of today. A recent survey showed that students are interested in important issues ranging from racism to mental illness to the environment (scholastic.com/BeersandProbst). In order to be successful in many aspects of their lives, students need to be creative, critically thinking and empathetic creators and communicators. Just as our definition of reading included making meaning of all sorts of texts, so too does our definition of communicating go beyond writing. Each of our subject areas has its own ways and means of communicating ideas from a variety of written genres to visual and auditory ones as well. Our goal is to spend this year thinking about the way we communicate in our disciplines and consider how we can begin to help our students better engage in these activities. Key questions to ask as we begin this stage in our journey are:
How do experts in our subject areas communicate with a variety of audiences?
What forms of communication have we traditionally used in our classrooms?
What experiences can we create to help our students communicate more authentically?
Engaging in rich discussions around these issues and more will help us define our path moving forward.
Looking Back
It was seven years ago that FRC began our literacy journey in response to concerns that students were not reading as critically as they needed to tackle the often complicated texts we study in our various subject areas. We began with a literacy committee comprised of members from all our subject areas who wrestled with the definition of literacy and the implications for teachers. Our initial vision was “to create a literacy-rich high school that successfully develops the academic literacy habits and skills of all students”. The definition we arrived at was that, “to be literate means to competently make meaning of any symbolic representation of an object, idea or concept to create and communicate understanding.” Underpinning these ideas was the belief, as stated by Judith Irvin that “literacy is not something you add to an already crowded plate; literacy is the plate”. In other words, we believed that literacy is essential not only to success at school but in helping students become critically thinking, empathetic, active citizens in the world.
We began with a focus on making meaning of texts, looking at general comprehension strategies and moving to instructional strategies for all students and for striving and EAL learners in particular. In recent years we have focused on the idea of 21 Century learning and the critical literacies required for the digital world. Along the way we began offering Reading Is Thinking courses and saw the development of The Scribbler www.frcscribbler.com, our creative arts anthology. Most importantly, throughout the school we have seen teachers changing their practice to incorporate activities into their classrooms to help students understand a variety of texts and think critically.
Moving Forward
Having become more adept at helping students comprehend and think critically and creatively, we are turning our attention to helping them communicate more effectively. The reasons for this shift go beyond it seeming the logical next step in our journey. Over the first number of years of this century it has become apparent that we are becoming not just consumers, but producers of information. Our students already have their own websites and You Tube channels, not to mention myriads of social media sites. Coupled with this ability to publish is the connectedness our young people have to the issues of today. A recent survey showed that students are interested in important issues ranging from racism to mental illness to the environment (scholastic.com/BeersandProbst). In order to be successful in many aspects of their lives, students need to be creative, critically thinking and empathetic creators and communicators. Just as our definition of reading included making meaning of all sorts of texts, so too does our definition of communicating go beyond writing. Each of our subject areas has its own ways and means of communicating ideas from a variety of written genres to visual and auditory ones as well. Our goal is to spend this year thinking about the way we communicate in our disciplines and consider how we can begin to help our students better engage in these activities. Key questions to ask as we begin this stage in our journey are:
How do experts in our subject areas communicate with a variety of audiences?
What forms of communication have we traditionally used in our classrooms?
What experiences can we create to help our students communicate more authentically?
Engaging in rich discussions around these issues and more will help us define our path moving forward.
Our Literacy Plan 2016/17
Our school has grown exponentially over the last three years with the addition of approximately 300 students and 35 new staff members. In an effort to stengthen our focus on literacy, we are using this year to revisit the themes we have been studying, introducing them to new staff members and reinvigorating our efforts to implement literacy strageies in all our classes. We are dedicating the PD portion of our staff meetings, monthly newsletter and team planning time to these efforts. At the same time, the Pembina Trails School Division has released a Literacy Standards document with roles and responsibilities regarding literacy for everyone from senior administrators to teachers and E.A.s. This document includes aself-assessments for all groupps which have been a great asset in providing direction for individual and team goal setting. Our literacy committee is studying Fisher, Frey and Hattie's (2016) Visible Learning for Literacy, which highlights effective teaching strategies for surface, deep and transfer learning.
Our Literacy Plan 2015/16
This year we are focusing on 21st Century Literacies. We are looking at digital citizenship with a goal of providing homeroom lessons to students and creating a framework of understanding around life in our digital world. In support of this goal, the Literacy Committee will be pairing up with our Mental Health Committee to provide professional development on mental health issues related to social media.
We are also looking at promoting the adoption of an inquiry stance to teaching and learning, beginning with a focus on questioning, as follows:
S.M.A.R.T. Goal
We are also looking at promoting the adoption of an inquiry stance to teaching and learning, beginning with a focus on questioning, as follows:
S.M.A.R.T. Goal
- Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely
- By the end of June, each member of this committee will be able to:
- articulate the role student generated questions play in student engagement and learning
- articulate the various types of questions and the role they play in learning
- articulate best practices for teaching students how to ask deep questions in the learning process
- implement student questioning techniques in a least one inquiry unit
- articulate a plan to disseminate knowledge learned in this committee with the wider teaching staff at FRC
- By the end of June, each member of this committee will be able to:
Our Literacy Plan 2014/15
This year our literacy committee has divided into three book clubs to continue to explore EAL learning, disciplinary literacy, and differentiation. The books we are reading are:
Sousa, D. (2011). How the ELL brain learns. Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin
Daniels, D. & Zemelman, S. (2014). Subjects matter Portsmounth, NH: Heinnmeman
Gregory, G. & Burkman, A. (2012). Differentiated literacy strategies. Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin
Sousa, D. (2011). How the ELL brain learns. Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin
Daniels, D. & Zemelman, S. (2014). Subjects matter Portsmounth, NH: Heinnmeman
Gregory, G. & Burkman, A. (2012). Differentiated literacy strategies. Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin
Our Literacy Plan 2013/14
| literacy_committee__goals_2013-14.pdf |
Our Literacy Plan 2012/13
Based on the work of our Divisional Literacy Network, we have begun build on the work we have already accomplished by exploring Fullan and Sharrat's 14 Parameters. After reviewing our achievements to date we decided our Literacy committee would focus on three areas: EAL strategies, Interventions and Data Gathering. For more information on these focus groups, go to our Initiatives tab. In addition we are continuing to offer job embedded PD opportunities through our literacy labs which a third of our teaching staff has signed up for this semester. We have begun to publish a literacy newsletter which will be used as the basis for our staff meetings this year, turning this time into an additional opportunity to increase awareness of and share literacy strategies and innovations.
Our Literacy Plan 2011/12
| literacy_goal_and_implementation_plan_2011-2012.pdf |
Our Literacy Plan 2010/11
Our Vision:
- To create a literacy-rich high school that successfully develops the academic literacy habits and skills of all students. (To be literate means to competently make meaning of any symbolic representation of an object, idea or concept to create and communicate understanding.)
Our Established Goals:
- Staff will develop common understandings about literacy.
- Staff will have a number of literacy strategies in their tool kit that can be used to support student literacy in their subject area.
- To create a literacy-rich high school that successfully develops the academic literacy habits and skills of all students. (To be literate means to competently make meaning of any symbolic representation of an object, idea or concept to create and communicate understanding.)
Our Established Goals:
- Staff will develop common understandings about literacy.
- Staff will have a number of literacy strategies in their tool kit that can be used to support student literacy in their subject area.
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Our Enduring Understandings:
- Literacy skills improve a student’s quality of life. - Literacy rich schools include school-wide initiatives including the library as a central point of access. - Literacy activities need to be authentic. Reading with a purpose is key. - Literacy encompasses reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, representing and thinking skills and different kinds of texts. - Teachers need support. Professional development and collaboration are essential to learn about and incorporate literacy strategies into their teaching. - Motivation: texts and teaching materials need to intrigue students and must be at a student’s instructional reading level; therefore using a variety of texts at different reading levels is important. - Students need to hear common language and understanding around literacy and strategies in order to make skills transferable. - Literacy initiatives need to address the particular needs of our school (at-risk, EAL, AP students). |
Our Essential Questions:
- What school-wide initiatives are needed to ensure that literacy is seen as a life-long endeavor and not only an academic skill? - How can we make the inclusion of literacy strategies a natural part of our planning in all subject areas? - What are the literacy strategies that are central to the various disciplines? - What needs to be done to ensure that teachers can help students interact with text? Who can do PD in this area? - How can we make better use of our library? - How can we present students with texts that are appropriate for their reading level and interests? - How can we do more team teaching with literacy in mind? (common assessments, etc.) - What kind of data should be used to monitor our work? |
