What Is It?
In secondary English classrooms where literacy development is a key feature, words and books are everywhere. Reading
comprehension is seen as a priority and there are a number of ways that its development is woven into the fabric of teaching
and learning. Connections are constantly being made between life and text, and among different texts. Essential questions are
generated and incorporated into writing and discussion. There is a celebration of language. If the goal is to explore a
particular literary theme, a variety of reading choices is offered and/or both contemporary and classical pieces are selected
and read. Writing is seen as a process and there are frequent authentic reasons to write. Students are exposed to how
authors think when they write through teacher modeling, guest speakers, Internet interviews, articles from writing journals,
and peer interviewing. Students conference with each other and the teacher about their writing. Learning is active and
expectations are clear. There is understanding and support that to be literate is important and to not be fully literate is to
be disenfranchised.
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