What Is It?

There is ample evidence that purposefully integrating speaking and listening into the content area classroom improves reading comprehension and writing skills. Effective collaborative learning also contributes to adolescent literacy development, particularly for second language learners.

Suggested Strategies and Resources: Integration

Instruction integrates speaking and listening with reading and writing.
This sounds like common sense, but in many secondary classrooms one finds limited discussion, limited opportunities to try out one's thoughts before reading/writing, and limited opportunities to present to others. In many secondary classrooms, the predominant voice is that of the teacher. Regular exchanges and use of spoken language support the development and expansion of ideas.

Suggested Strategies and Resources: Collaborative Learning

Students and teachers value collaborative learning.
Collaborative learning clearly supports literacy development when teachers structure and coach it effectively. Frequent opportunities to collaboratively brainstorm, organize, write, read, share, revise, and present work have many benefits. In secondary classrooms, collaborative learning can build multiple literacy skills, support the establishment of a learning community, result in richer individual work, reinforce the apprenticeship framework of literacy learning, and assist with scaffolding, motivation, and making connections.

Questions to Think About

Before you can implement this Key Component, your stakeholders will need to consider some or all of these questions. The questions could be used in group discussions, needs sensing activities, and informal small-group conversations.

• Which of the above best practices typically occur now as part of teaching and learning? Which do not? Why do you think that is the case?

• How would teaching and learning shift if the above best practices characterized education throughout the school? How would time, space, personnel, and materials/resources be used differently?

• What kind of support would teachers need in order to effectively incorporate these practices into teaching and learning on a daily basis?

• If these practices were to characterize what takes place in classrooms throughout the school, would any current instructional benefits be displaced or compromised?