When hearing "literacy" in the classroom, you might immediately think of an English Language Arts (ELA) class. At City Schools, "literacy" is fully integrated in all subject areas. That means using research-based literacy instructional practices in all subjects, including Lexy McCauley’s math classes at the pre-K-8 Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins Partnership School (Henderson-Hopkins).
Literacy fluency is embedded into every subject at Henderson-Hopkins. Kyair Butts, the school’s seventh-grade ELA teacher and lead of the ELA program, crafted a professional development program tailored to each subject and content area. Teachers receive high-quality training, planning, and coaching that equip and empower them with the skills and background knowledge needed to support their students' diverse needs and learning styles. This includes information on literacy best practices for classroom instruction, and every teacher has a literacy coach.
“Every teacher here is a literacy teacher,” says Ms. McCauley.
For example, Ms. McCauley incorporates echo and choral reading in her classes. In echo reading, a student reads a word problem and another student reads it back to them. For choral reading, the entire class reads a problem together.
Notes Ms. McCauley, “Word problems sometimes throw students off. They don’t all hear the problem the same way. However, when kids hear other people emphasizing different words, they discover key words and what is important. By breaking it down, they know how to tackle the problem.
“Students didn’t automatically think that math includes literacy,” she continues. “It’s helpful for them to remember that fluency is important in every content area.”
Her students agree!
“I like that we can all improve collectively and, as a whole, share our tips and tricks, do’s and don’ts in order for us to all become better readers. This process has helped us learn about our strengths and weaknesses, and become more passionate about improving our reading skills and preparing us for high school.” - Kyrin
“Echo reading makes me read better and read with emotion.” - Andrea
“When everyone reads with emotion, it makes the reading more fun. Everyone feels welcome and included, making the learning environment a better place to be. This process will help me in the future because in high school, the reading will only become harder and more challenging as I go along, so building the simple skills of reading helps a lot.” - Larry