From the Research: Best Practices In Literacy Instruction
Zemelman, Daniels & Hyde, 1993 Best Practices In Literacy Instruction
Canadian Language & Literacy Network Foundations for Literacy, 2008

The teacher and students are part of a school “ethos” which supports and values literacy

The teacher clearly articulates, and directly teaches, cognitive strategies, in small and large
groups, such as in guided reading and mini-lessons, supporting children in valuing the strategies
they already have and in learning new ones. The teacher consistently demonstrates and guides
the use of effective strategies for word-solving, comprehension, and critical analysis. Activities
emphasize the use of before, during and after reading and writing strategies.

Teachers model reading, do book talks, and discuss with students what they are reading. Read
aloud is seen as an important part of literacy instruction where the teacher uses the opportunity
to model effective reading strategies, promote an enjoyment of reading, and talk about authoring
techniques.

The teacher matches reading and writing assessment with classroom experiences. The teacher
interacts with students to assess comprehension, uses running records in the daily program to
know when to increase text difficulty and which strategies to teach, and uses writing samples,
rubrics, and exemplars to assess growth in writing. Students are supported in reflecting on and
self-evaluating their use of reading and writing strategies.

Teachers provide many meaningful reading and writing opportunities across the content areas,
thus the focus is on reading for meaning and reading and writing in context. Students have daily
experiences to share and discuss reading and writing. Instruction links reading and writing
together, speaking of authors when reading and of the audience or reader when writing.

Children are provided with the opportunity to read, read, read and are allowed lots of choice in
selecting books for independent reading. There is access to a wide variety of narrative and
expository material, representing a wide range of difficulty so all students can experience
success and challenge themselves by accessing increasingly more difficult texts.

Teachers use a broad based approach to teaching vocabulary, word analysis, and spelling from
contextual reading and writing experiences. For example, phonics instruction is integrated into,
and related back to, authentic reading and writing.

Particular attention and teaching is targeted at assisting struggling readers. If children do not
come to school with extensive book experiences, the teacher focuses on providing these. Rather
than waiting for a child to catch on to reading, there is intervention and tutoring which promotes
the use of reading and writing strategies.
From the Research: Best Practices In Literacy Instruction
Zemelman, Daniels & Hyde, 1993 Best Practices In Literacy Instruction
Canadian Language & Literacy Network Foundations for Literacy, 2008
Reflections:
What was interesting:
Based on today’s discussions I want to: