IMPLEMENTING A BALANCED LITERACY PROTOTYPE

Balanced Literacy represents the best way to build the reading and writing skills of your students. Do you know how to integrate the different aspects of the program? Are you prepared to give your students their best chance to succeed?

During Read Aloud
•	Use story props for younger children.
•	Use a variety of texts for all ages.
•	Pause to explain your reading strategies and allow a chance for your students to ask questions.

During Independent Reading
•	Have a well-stocked library with culturally-diverse texts.
•	Group the material in your take home library according to the various reading levels determined by your guided reading segments.
•	Hold teacher conferences to discuss your students' progress. Hold peer conferences, encouraging your students to discuss their individual texts with their classmates.

During Guided Reading
•	Since your students will be working on a number of different texts, have a bulletin board that notifies your other students what their classmates are working on.
•	Always have a vocabulary list available.
•	Before your groups begin reading, inform them of the goal of each text. Detail story elements and get them excited about what they are about to read - while, at the same time, easing their insecurities by giving them an idea of what to expect.
•	Incorporate elements from each text into subsequent lessons.

During Shared Reading
•	Prepare texts for students by highlighting key ideas and potentially difficult passages.
•	Read every text repeatedly, each time giving the student more and more to read.
•	All of your students must have access to their own text. If you do not have enough texts for every student in your class, your lessons will not be as effective as possible.

During Shared Writing
•	Think aloud fairly often. Discuss the writing frequently with your students. Be sure all students can see your writing.
•	Focus each lesson on a specific set of skills. The skills you focus on should spring from the work in question.
•	Many students fail to understand the value of revision and rewriting. Be sure to demonstrate sound revision strategies.
•	Have your students develop a rubric to analyze your writing.

During Independent Writing
•	Prepare a poster or distribute hand-outs with a list of frequently misspelled words and common grammatical errors.
•	Display ungraded work on the walls of your classroom.
•	Have students maintain a portfolio of works in progress.
•	Organize groups of students into small writing workshops.

Selecting Material for Your Class Library
•	Your class needs a well-stocked library so every student will be able to participate in Independent Reading.
•	Use more than fiction. More than stories. Stock your library with non-fiction and magazines from culturally-diverse sources.
•	Choose material that appeals to the interests of your students. Ask parents for advice and materials.
•	The material should correspond to your students' reading levels.

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