ReadWriteThink: Literacy Engagements

Literacy Engagements
		Lessons on ReadWriteThink can be sorted by literacy engagements so that teachers can highlight specific language functions in the classroom. Following M. A. K. Halliday's model, lessons are designed to engage students in authentic and meaningful language learning (1982). Literacy engagements simultaneously involve learning language (as students listen to it and use it with others in their everyday lives), learning about language (as students try to figure out how it works, engage with their teachers in focused instruction on how it works or in critiquing its impact), and learning through language (as students use it to learn about or do something). While all three literacy functions—learning language, learning about language, learning through language—operate in any literacy event that makes sense to a learner, teachers, according to Kathy Short (1999), frequently find it instructionally useful to highlight one of these functions at a time (at least in their minds) so that they can consider which curriculum experiences are most likely to engage learners in that specific literacy function.

Learning Language	Learning About Language	Learning Through Language
Using language and other sign systems as ways of making meaning	Understanding how language works, including word play, the teaching of letter-sound relationships and spelling or grammar patterns, or analysis of texts	Using reading and writing as a tool for exploration or for purposes of learning about or critiquing our world
read aloud partner reading with big books building fluency readers theater independent reading journal writing sketch-to-stretch reading log writer's notebook poetry prewriting	word study comprehension strategies strategy instruction mini-lessons word walls think aloud guided reading process drama spelling phonics story grammar word play critiquing the media, advertisements, and other everyday texts word recognition text scaffolding graphic organizers phonemic awareness convention interactive read alouds story mapping	literature study literature & social studies inquiry text sets reflective journals process drama critiquing the media, advertisements, and other everyday texts social action projects writing using alternate sign systems integrated curriculum technical writing collaborative writing

Literacy Engagements Across the Day

LEARNING LANGUAGE Using language and other sign systems as ways of making meaning
ENGAGEMENT	PURPOSE		MATERIALS
Read-aloud	To create classroom community To build a shared repertoire of stories, poems, chants, and songs To build a sense of story, as well as of other genres		Best-loved and classic stories, poems, songs; award-winning texts, recognized authors
Shared reading interactive writing	To demonstrate literacy processes; to engage all students' participation at current level of ability		Big books, chart writing or poems, texts on overhead; personal copies of text
Independent reading and writing	To read texts independently To select, browse, and read texts of interest To capture ideas; to contribute to thinking		Texts of interest Books at "just right" level
Additional Engagements
Building fluency Journal writing Partner reading		Prewriting Readers Theater Writer’s notebook

Learning About Language
Understanding how language works, including word play, the teaching of letter-sound relationships and spelling or grammar patterns, or analysis of texts

Strategy instruction

Demonstrations

Focused lessons

Mini-lessons

To focus on the processes, elements, and strategies of reading, writing, spelling, punctuation, or workshop organization:

"What to do when I'm stuck" strategies
using reference texts
phonemic awareness
locating materials
genre characteristics
browsing
literary elements
workshop routines
spelling patterns

Students' own writing: family stories, inquiry reports, poetry, articles; writing of peers, others' writing; predictable books, literature, poetry

Additional Engagements & Strategies

Comprehension strategies

Critiquing the media, advertisements, everyday texts

Graphic organizers

Guided reading

Phonics

Phonemic awareness

Process drama

Story grammar

Story mapping

Text scaffolding

Think aloud

Word play

Word recognition

Word study

Word walls

Learning Through Language Using reading and writing as tools for exploration or for purposes of learning about or critiquing our world
Literature study	To read and write stories as a way of helping making sense of life; texts that help readers understand more about themselves and their world To discuss texts with small groups of interested others To study the author's craft To inform, comment, critique, document, study	Multiple copies of books; stories of significance, often that contribute to broader class theme; text sets; sets of books by one author
Inquiry	To document what one knows; to discover additional information on topics of interest. Paired with literature study, contributing knowledge to a themed inquiry To gather information for projects To publish or present what was learned	Text sets: a collection of related texts (books [varied genres], CDs, maps, tapes, artifacts), which contribute multiple perspectives to learners' research
Additional Engagements & Strategies
Learning partners Integrated curriculum studies Literature circles	Reflection journals Social justice projects Text sets Egawa (1998)
M.A.K. Halliday (1980) found that in any meaningful language event, children have the opportunity to learn language, learn about language, and learn through language. They learn language through the "doing" of language—talking, listening, reading, and writing. They learn about language as they explore how language functions and the conventions that support communication. They learn through language as they focus on what it is they are learning. All three aspects are essential in every classroom. We don't start with one and progress to the next. Rather, it is the three operating together within a meaningful context that provides the most supportive learning environment for literacy learners.

Further Reading
Egawa, K. 1998. "Literacy Workshop Across the Day." In C. Five and K. Egawa (Eds), "Reading and Writing Workshop." School Talk (3)4, pg. 7.

Halliday, M. 1980. Three Aspects of Children's Language Development: Learning language, Learning through Language, Learning about Language. In Oral and Written Language Development Research, Y. Goodman, M.H. Haussler, and D. Strickland (Eds.), 7-19. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Short, K. 1999. The Search for "Balance" in a Literature-rich Curriculum. In Theory into Practice, 38(3), 130-137.