Literacy is the foundation of all learning. Being able to read, understand what you are reading, and apply background knowledge to new situations is essential to be able to learn any subject, from mathematics to science, from geography to computing, and everything in between. These are fundamental skills that, once acquired, will open up the doors of opportunity.

But what is the best way to teach literacy in the modern-day classroom and who is responsible for teaching literacy? HINT: it’s not just ELA teachers! In this article, we’re exploring what literacy is and how educators can teach literacy across the curriculum, regardless of what subject you’re teaching!

“Literacy is the most basic currency of the knowledge economy.” – Barack Obama

Simply put, literacy is the ability to read, write, listen, and speak in a way that allows us to communicate effectively with others. In our modern world, it is indispensable and vital for navigating even the most basic tasks in daily life. Research has also shown that reading, a key element of literacy, is a strong predictor of success later in life, whether in terms of pursuing higher education, getting high-income jobs, or being better socially adapted.

Here’s a few of our favorite tips to help build students’ literacy skills regardless of the subject you’re teaching: 

#1: Start with Building Background Knowledge 

When you think of a window, do you think of it as a pane of glass with shutters to allow wind and light to flowthrough, or as something that exists as a part of a house? For most people, our minds would immediately jump to the second. Why? Because context is everything.

No matter the subject area that you teach, help students contextualize new information by building on their background knowledge. Consider – What are students already familiar with? How can this new information be connected to the knowledge they already have?

Knowledge and comprehension are closely related – each reinforces the other. Students learn new knowledge which they then use to comprehend or understand information. Understanding something within a new context helps them concretize this information within their existing knowledge paradigm, and adds to it. From this perspective, giving students background knowledge to information they need to learn is key to teaching literacy.

#2: Build Real-World Connections 

If literacy is important in preparing students for the real world, what better way to do that than by demonstrating to them its relevance to the real world? Too often, students get lost in the barrage of information they get at school, particularly when they cannot see how it relates to their daily lives or how they can apply it to their future careers. This makes them disengaged and unmotivated, making it difficult to build their literacy skills.Read to Lead’s learning games addresses this by building real-world connections for students to see exactly how what they learn applies to life. For example, in the series Community in Crisis, students take on the role of Director at their local community center to respond to the effects of a hurricane in the community. Students can draw parallels between their in-game experiences with real-world contexts like Hurricane Harvey (2017) and Superstorm Sandy (2012). By inviting students to be the “boss” in a virtual workplace, we can connect literacy skills to real-life applications.

#3: Check Comprehension Skills As You Go

One way to teach literacy regardless of your subject matter is to check students’ comprehension skills. Getting regular feedback about how students are progressing, where they need a little extra help, and whether they are truly understanding the material is invaluable to building their literacy skills. However, juggling all of that for an entire classroom of students can be challenging.

That’s where Read to Lead comes in. With real-time reporting that shows exactly how each student is faring in each learning game and which areas they struggle with, Read to Lead provides invaluable information that you can use to provide students with more support. Each interactive learning game also comes with wrap-around curricula in the form of post-game debate questions and discussion prompts to deepen students’ understanding and solidify their grasp of the material. These additional resources not only reinforce reading comprehension and boost students’ literacy skills but also promote thoughtful reflection about the material covered.

By using these three tips in your classroom, you’ll be helping cultivate students’ literacy skills and equipping them to be the next generation of readers and leaders! How do you teach literacy across your curriculum? 

The post Teaching Literacy Across the Curriculum appeared first on Read to Lead.

Check out some of the newer Read to Lead features recently launched to help you reach every student!

Use Auto-Graded Formative Assessments

Formative assessments are key to gauge each student’s understanding of material and their progress over time, but manually issuing them can be a massive time suck. Enter Read to Lead with auto-graded formative assessments built into the platform!

In each Read to Lead learning game, students complete multiple formative assessments and decision prompts while being fully engaged in the interactive virtual workplace. These assessments are auto-graded, allowing you to have a bird’s eye view into students’ performance in real time! It also frees you up so you can go deeper supporting students who need a little extra help. Talk about getting the most out of your time!

Differentiate Instruction Based on Real-Time Feedback

Ever wished your teacher grade book had an “auto-sort” function to quickly and easily assess which students need more guidance with their work? Well now you can!

The Reports on the Read to Lead platform lets you see an overview of class performance or drill down to each individual student. Each student’s progress and performance is recorded in this dashboard, providing insights on each skill (English Language Arts (ELA) skills, but also Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills) organized by the support level needed. At a glance, you’ll be able to see which areas your students are excelling at, and which areas they may need more practice.

Thinking about introducing additional differentiation in your teaching? The Reports tab also includes the capability to display students’ performance by Reading Standard or Social Emotional Learning Competency. Use these reports to guide how you adapt and scaffold the curriculum in a way that supports the whole-child!

Allow Students to Practice the Skills They Need Most

If you’ve ever wanted to know exactly where your students need more practice, you’re going to love the Auto-Assign feature on the Read to Lead platform! After students play their first Read to Lead learning game, the platform automatically offers a recommendation to the teacher with a list of games a student should play next based on their past performance!

Provide deeper practice on the skills your students need most by simply assigning the games recommended by the platform. Read to Lead’s adaptive technology also modifies assessments based on students’ performance within the platform. Students also get instant feedback on their progress, allowing them to celebrate their wins and motivating them to keep reading!

Best part? Read to Lead is super easy to implement and is 100% free. No tricks or paywalls – just free!  Sign up for free here, and assign students their first learning game!

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