Teaching Reading in a Comprehensive Literacy Framework
Gradual Release
Purpose
Interactive
Read Aloud
Think about,
talk about, and
respond to text.
Teachers… …model
strategies used
by a proficient
reader to
comprehend
text.
…help students
develop ways of
thinking and
talking about a
variety of texts.
…develop
mentor texts.
Students…
…focus on
comprehension
while freed
from decoding.
…expand
background
knowledge and
vocabulary.
…use language
as a tool for
thought.
…engage in
literacy
discussions.
Shared Reading
Experience
what it’s like to
think and act
like readers.
…demonstrate
the reading
process.
…teach skills
for reading.
…demonstrate
relationship
between oral
and written
language.
…promote
comprehension
through talk
about texts.
…reread
familiar texts to
deepen
comprehension
and become
fluent readers.
…build skills
(h.f. words,
phonics,
phonemic
awareness,
vocabulary).
…learn text
structures.
Guided Reading
Independent
Reading
Practice
Develop fluency
strategic reading and deepen
in a guided
comprehension.
setting.
…prompt and
…confer with
reinforce
students as they
previouslyread.
taught strategies …observe
and gain insight strategic
into students’
behaviors.
thinking.
…gain insight
…support at the into students’
point of error.
thinking.
…work
…prompt deep
efficiently with thinking about
students at
texts.
similar level.
…facilitate talk
about texts.
.…process and
…apply learned
comprehend an strategies
entire text.
independently.
…expand
…self-select
understanding
texts to read for
of text by
a variety of
talking with
purposes.
others.
…think about
and respond to
text.
Interactive
Writing
Jointly compose
and write
meaningful text.
…guide
students in the
process of
composing and
writing
meaningful text.
…demonstrate
and prompt for
strategic
spelling.
…think as
writers to
compose text in
a supported
setting.
…learn and
apply strategies
for spelling.
…apply
knowledge of
conventions in a
meaningful
context.
Writing
Workshop
Experience
what it’s like to
think and act
like writers.
…teach the
writing process
and the crafting
of writing
through direct,
focused lessons.
…confer with
students to
support writing
and gain insight
into their
thinking.
…nurture and
celebrate the
work of writers.
…compose
texts for
specific
audiences and
purposes.
…orchestrate
learning from
direct teaching.
…write as a tool
for thinking and
making
meaning.
…publish
writing.
Word Learning
Systematically
study how
words work.
…teach spelling
patterns and
phonics
principles
leaving energy
for
comprehension.
…offer practice
with word wall
words.
…assess
students’
spelling by
analyzing
writing.
…apply
knowledge of
spelling patterns
contributing to
efficient wordsolving, fluent
reading, and
deeper
comprehension.
…increase
vocabulary.
…build core of
high frequency
words.