Literary Best Practices for Middle and High School Students

 

I haven't graced the hallowed halls of middle school or high school as a teacher, so I haven't experienced literacy from their point of view. I've never gone beyond 4th grade, so I am treading into unknown territory with middle and high school level literacy. To learn more about best practices, I interviewed Danielle G., a curriculum facilitator for my current district. She works with 6th-12th grade teachers in RLA and Social Studies, aligning curriculum to state standards and district resources. 

We took a look at two different literacy best practices to see how my district implements these practices and supports its teachers in 6th-12th grade.

Using Diverse Text

Teachers in my current district have access to a variety of diverse texts through their resources, Study Sync by McGraw Hill and Into Reading by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. These texts spotlight diverse authors and experiences through a myriad of genres while keeping relevant to the world today. The texts also support Emergent Bilingual students through the incorporation of the ELPS and specific lessons built just for that student population.  

Each summer, teachers sit together with district curriculum staff to plan out the year at a glance. During that time, middle level and secondary teachers work in teams to discuss the diverse text and determine how to incorporate the texts into the classroom. The curriculum, TEKs Resource System, specifies which holidays we as a district are legally supposed to recognize. Holidays, such as World Holocaust Day (Remembrance Week) as well as Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month are just a few that are within our curriculum. As a curriculum facilitator and coach, Danielle supports her teachers by hosting weekly PLC meetings to discuss the literature and completes instructional walkthroughs with feedback to help support her teachers.

The district isn't currently offering professional development to its teachers with regards to diverse texts. Building this in is a goal of our newly revamped curriculum department--the department wishes to create more in-house opportunities of all kinds. 

Strategic Tutoring

Strategic tutorials are being used to support students in need according to HB4545 and its modified version, HB 1416. These are addressed in specific classes that include teachers working with students in small groups to address individual content based needs. Our 6th graders partake in this during a time called Tiger Time which is a set apart intervention time that works within their schedule--this period not only supports striving learnings, but supports our "middle of the road" students as well as the gifted students who receive targeted instruction as well. Middle school and high school student have a special class they attend that addresses their specific needs while grouped with like peers. 

During weekly PLC meetings, which include the instructional facilitator for the content and the Director of Secondary Readiness, student data is pulled and so are the correlating TEKS. They focus on the standards that students are needing to be re-taught. It is during these meetings that it is decided which students would benefit from small group, one-on-one, or whole group intervention. In addition, the instructional facilitator is completing instructional walkthroughs and is assisting teachers with instructional planning and tutorials. Teachers use a variety of resources including released STAAR tests, Lead4ward resources, and Sirius (a supplemental program) to assist in tutoring.

These best practices are designed to see student growth and success in the classroom. Continuing to implement these plus other is only in the best interest of our students.