The Literacy Lift: Free Teacher Resources for Helping Students Rise above Learning Gaps

The Literacy Gap= One Teacher with 5 Student Ability Levels in One Class

By Catherine Patterson-Sterling, PhD, RCC

If you have ever looked around your Language Arts or English classroom and thought, “Wow, my students are all over the map”, then you are not alone because students in one class can span the range of emerging reading to university entry depending on your grade.

Some students are flying through novels while others are tripping over vocabulary by still figuring out how to put a full sentence together. The literacy gap is real, and it shows up loud and clear in intermediate, middle school, as well as high school classrooms.

The good news?

You do not have to choose between challenging advanced readers and supporting those who are behind. With some creative strategies and teacher resources, you can lift every student, no matter where they start.

Below is a plan for setting yourself and your learners up for success-

1. Find Out Where the Gaps Really Are

Think of your class like a puzzle in that you cannot put the pieces together if you do not know what is missing. With a quick, low-stakes assessment such as a reading passage, a writing sample, or a short quiz, you can know exactly where students are at in their learning. This is a baseline and make sure students are starting with good old fashion paper and pencils so that AI (artificial intelligence) is not messing with your results while masking any student learning deficits.

2. Different Texts, Same Skills

With materials, provide students with different entry points into the same material. If they have a choice between activities, then they can engage while also “being in motion” around their learning. For example, with a novel study some students may engage in an advertising poster to show the key themes, while others complete a critic review using persuasive arguments and then there are students who may do a synthesis essay with comparisons of this novel or movie version versus another one within the same genre. Such skills are consistent in terms of identifying themes, analyzing characters, finding evidence, and also crafting an argument. With variety, no one feels left behind or has an opportunity to become bored.

3. Free Resource and Tools

Then there are students with issues of learned helplessness who will explore even the simplest entry point such as creating a poster and because of years of compounding reinforcement they believe they cannot do anything, as they wait for the waves of expectation or accountability to wash over them. They will wait you out by doing nothing while hoping you forget about due dates and work to be done. Then there are other students who will rush through work sloppily in a hope that if they speed-run the work, then they can have time ahead of the class to do nothing such as “sit on their tech” (use their screen phone time) waiting for the class to finish. Such students will insistently argue that they have done their work and they have nothing better to do as they refuse to enhance their work.

The turtle learners and the speed runners may not benefit from options one and two above. For this reason, having additional resources is helpful. “Twenty” is a new school engagement and resilience program filled with videos, reflections, and quizzes for students who can solve the issues of six other animated characters struggling with screen time, school engagement, executive functioning, mental health and more. If students are dropping off on their engagement, they can complete work on more than 60 lessons which are pre-loaded on to a learning management system with their own unique login and account.

Use Twenty as a core class program or as a focus when disengaged students are struggling and you need quick access to supplementary work.

Also, this program has an entire 14 part module on “Reading for Spelling” for learners who have not even established basic literacy as they practice word families with silly sentences. These materials are loaded with quality graphics so that the high interest, low vocabulary information may cover primary-levels but have high school level graphics.

Order your FREE TEACHER’S COPY  today and receive the entire “TWENTY” program, “Reading For Spelling” and an additional LOTUS (school-wide positive behaviour and resiliency program” together in one click access. Project the materials from your smartboard for the class or give students their own access upon purchasing copies for your students that is more affordable than a package of pens.

For More Information Visit https://www.softskillstrainingcenter.com

Final Word for Teachers

Addressing literacy gaps is not about lowering the bar, and is instead, about building a staircase so every student can reach it. Every time a student discovers they can read that book, write that paragraph, or share their ideas, you are not just closing a gap, but are actually helping them change their story about themselves so that they can be set up for success now and in life.

About The Writer:

Catherine Patterson-Sterling, PhD, RCC is an educator of 20+ years with diverse experience in all levels of elementary, high school, and post secondary education as a teacher, counsellor, and clinical supervisor. With extensive experience in research and counselling, she understands the impact as well as sources of disengagement as well as chronic absenteeism on learners at all levels. She is also the creator of these new innovative programs “Twenty”  & “LOTUS” sponsored by Soft Skills Training Center and Patterson-Sterling Consulting and Counselling Services.