Philosophy of Balanced Literacy

By Sue Hebert
Balanced literacy consists of five pieces. These pieces should all be
taught in a gradual release model. This means that the teacher first
models the skills or strategy. Next, the teacher engages the students in
guided practice involving students. After that students engage in the
strategy or skill and the teacher supports and coaches. Finally, students
independently perform and own the strategy and the teacher gives
feedback.
The first and most important piece of balanced literacy is reading.
Students should spend the most time engaged in reading. Examples of
this would be during read to self time using just right books, partner
reading, listening to reading, and during inquiry study. It is important
that students have choices in a wide variety of texts. Students who
spend the most time reading make the most gains which is supported
with many research studies.
The second piece of balanced literacy is dialogic read alouds where
strategies in comprehension and decoding skills can be taught explicitly.
Through shared reading my students are engaged with the teacher in
big books, poetry, language experiences and readers theatre. These
experiences build fluency, vocabulary, and a love of reading.
The third piece of balanced literacy is guided reading. After assessing
students reading level using running records I can pull students in small
groups with similar needs to focus on differentiated decoding and
comprehension strategies.

The fourth piece of my balanced literacy is writing. Through writing

workshop during minilessons I will use mentor texts and model explicit
teaching of writing strategies like writing a good lead for students. The
next step is to give students choice and time to write, encouraging
invented spelling. Using the Lucy Calkins model I will focus on
narrative, informative, and persuasive writing, writing as stated in the
CCSS. Students will go through the process of drafting, revising, editing
with peers and publishing pieces of their choice. Writing will also be
found across content areas, in journals, and responses to literature.
Finally, engaging in word work will enable students to become fluent
readers. Beginning with phonological awareness and moving through
the stages of phonics students will participate in focused word work
lessons. Going through the sequence of phonics generalizations that
are appropriate and account for decoding the majority of words should
be taught to students.
I also feel that oral language should be woven into all areas of reading
instruction. Students oral language is a huge predictor of reading
success. Incorporating turn and talks throughout the day, using poetry,
chanting rhymes and songs, readers theatre, and reading aloud with
retelling will all contribute to developing proficient oral language skills.