Pa Literacy Framework Opening Pages

Pennsylvania Literacy Framework

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Edward G. Rendell, Governor Department of Education Vicki L. Phillips, Secretary Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Gerald L. Zahorchak, Deputy Secretary Bureau of Curriculum and Academic Services Susan A. Enfield, Director Division of Curriculum and Instruction Nancy Neil, Chief Language Arts Education Joel Geary, Advisor Pennsylvania Department of Education 333 Market Street Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333

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The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will not discriminate in its educational programs, activities or employment practices, based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, ancestry, union membership, or any other legally protected classification. Announcement of this policy is in accordance with state law including the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act with federal law, including Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Any complaint of harassment or discrimination pertaining to education should be directed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Manager, Department of Education, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333, Voice Telephone: 717787-1953, Text Telephone TTY: 717-783-8445, Fax: 717-783-9348. For information on accommodations for persons with disabilities, contact the ADA Coordinator, Department of Education at the same address, Voice Telephone: 717-783-9791, Text Telephone TTY: 771-7838445, Fax: 717-772-2317. If you have any questions about this publication, or for additional copies, contact, PDE, Division of Curriculum and Instruction, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333. Voice Telephone: Joel Geary: 717-772-1716, Fax: 717-783-3946.

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Pennsylvania Literacy Framework

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

User’s Guide - Introduction

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Acknowledgements/Credits

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Chapter 1 - Lifelong Learning

tab 1

Chapter 2 - Early Literacy Learning

tab 2

Chapter 3 - Reading: Transacting with Text

tab 3

Chapter 4 - Writing: Composing Text

tab 4

Chapter 5 - Investigating Language

tab 5

Chapter 6 - Reading and Writing to Learn Content

tab 6

Chapter 7 - Assessment of Literacy

tab 7

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Pennsylvania Literacy Framework

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USER’S GUIDE This text represents a continuation of the State’s commitment to quality instruction in the areas of Reading and Language Arts/English. This is the third in a series of documents which have guided reading and language instruction in the state since 1979. Each document has extended or modified the knowledge base and practice of the previous document. Note that this document has changed the name to Pennsylvania Literacy Framework in keeping with current thinking in the field. The teaching of reading and language skills has become ever more integrated in the past years and the entire field is seen as attempting to provide our children with literacy skills which will enable them to compete in the adult world. These skills are no longer seen as separate from each other but are now taught as an integrated subjects. Reading and writing skills are now taught in all content areas. This text has been prepared for use by professionals in the classroom, school administrators and pre-professionals in the higher education teacher preparation stream. The document has been written in the strong belief that educators are professionals who can and must read and apply the most current research and theory in their classrooms and schools.

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For the professional in the classroom, the text provides a review of current research and theory accompanied by practical applications for the classroom. Practices to facilitate research-based theory are provided in each chapter. For the administrator, the document provides a concise and practical update of the current research and theory in the communications teaching areas. This brief review is intended to enable the principal to communicate with the Reading and English faculties in a more informed fashion, facilitating meaningful curriculum conversations between the administrator and the faculty. For the pre-professional, the text provides an overview of current research considered to be important in instructing in the literacy areas of reading, writing and language learning instruction. The preparation of the document was planned by a team of researcher-writers from higher education and teacher/administrators from the field. This team chose to maintain the four lenses from the last version of the Framework and three of the Five Critical Experiences with modifications. Reading, Writing and Investigating Language were maintained as Critical Experiences. The chapter titled Expanding Reading and Writing was maintained but is addressed strongly to the content teacher. The chapter Learning to Learn was modified to provide the overview/cornerstone to the whole document as the Lifelong Literacy introduction. A new chapter was added, providing a basis for considering early childhood literacy as a concern. A concluding chapter reviews the impact of current developments in assessment of literacy skills. Since the Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Standards are now expected to be taught in all areas of the curriculum, this chapter was expanded to provide a specific response to the needs of content area teachers. Chapter 6 provides specific suggestions for teaching the communication skills in the context of a content area.

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The researcher-writer teams have attempted to integrate the four lenses as they were appropriate to the content of the chapter. In addition, where it is appropriate, they have attempted to integrate a concept of Stages of Learning.

The Stages of Learning, for this document, are defined as:  Early literacy—the literacy learning of children from birth through the early school years.  Expanding literacy—the literacy learning which extends the early literacy knowledge and experience into new forms of literacy and new content learning. The focus is on learning to read and write.  Enhancing literacy—the literacy learning which assumes a readiness to use previous reading and writing knowledges and skills to enhance the student’s world of knowledge and experience. The focus is on reading and writing to learn.  Lifelong learning—the attitudinal positioning toward literacy and learning which enables adults to grow and learn in professional and personal ways throughout their lives. The Framework is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One reviews current theory and practice on the issue of learning as a lifelong process. In this chapter is included a review of the four lenses which underlie literacy in the Commonwealth. Chapter Two is a new addition to the Framework, providing a review of research, theory and practice in early childhood literacy. This chapter represents a bold step in the direction of recognizing the importance of

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establishing literacy habits in children from the earliest stages of development. Chapter Three provides a review of current theory, research and practice in the area of reading instruction. The focus of this chapter highlights the significance of developing meaning-making skills in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics and comprehension of vocabulary as well as explicit and implicit instruction in comprehension. Chapter Four focuses on writing instruction. This area has been a major focus in schools for the past ten or more years. Most of this focus has been centered on the writing process. This chapter moves beyond the process to encompass the areas of genre as a way of addressing the importance of writing in the informative genres. The issues of grammar and spelling instruction are addressed in this chapter also. Chapter Five focuses on language learning. The content reviews language functions, variety and history as well as providing practical ideas for instruction in oral communication and language exploration through word play and similar activities. Chapter Six is directed toward the teacher of content who needs to understand how to instruct reading and writing in the content areas. This chapter is focused extensively on instructional processes to facilitate reading and writing skills in the content areas. Chapter Seven provides a review of current assessment issues in literacy. This chapter is especially valuable for use by administrator/teacher teams in planning Local Assessment Systems. Three CD-ROMs are a new feature of this document. These are included as professional development tools.

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Pennsylvania Literacy Framework

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/CREDITS This document is the collective product of a group of dedicated educators who met several times from December 1999 through the summer of 2000 to critique, analyze, search, research and prepare this Framework. Two teams of people are responsible for the work. The front-line team met as researcher-writers to develop the actual document. To each of these people we extend thanks.

Writer-Researcher Team Rita Bean University of Pittsburgh Shirley Biggs University of Pittsburgh Nicholas Coles University of Pittsburgh Marion Dugan Souderton Area School District Barbara Marinak Mechanicsburg School District Beverly Melenyzer California University of Pennsylvania Jesse Moore East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania Marsha Pauley Central Cambria School District Kim Riddell Chatham College Charlene Trovato University of Pittsburgh Yvonne Weaver Trinity Area School District

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A second team of teachers, administrators and professors from across the state met with the first team to critique and guide the writing.

Advisory Committee Barbara Bender Jane Blystone Jennifer Boone Chris Cherrington Kisha Davis Lillian DeLeo Lynne Dorfman Diane Dougherty Denise Dragich Trudie Engel Marion Lynn Fauceglia Meg Geffken Joel Geary Dorothy Grier Cathy Hayden Janet Hoffman Patricia Jones Ray Young

Lucille Jute Mary Jane Koenig Patricia Koller Joyce Lee Carol Merrill Sue Ann Miller Lynn Morley Gail Ryan Jan Sansone Toni Saul Valerie Sharir Vicki Steinberg Betty Stoner Deborah Sturm Kenneth Toth Mary Ann Warner Michael Williams

Finally, recognition is given to the originators of the plan to up-date the Pennsylvania Framework for Reading. This group designed the process for the development of the new Pennsylvania Literacy Framework and identified the changes to be made in the document itself.

The Planning Committee Diane Skiffington Dickson Pennsylvania Department of Education Marion Dugan Souderton Area School District Nancy Neil Pennsylvania Department of Education Jean E. Winsand University of Pittsburgh Jean E. Winsand Project Coordinator

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Pennsylvania Literacy Framework

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THE THREE CDS INCLUDED IN THE PA LITERACY FRAMEWORK BINDER ARE TOOLS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.  Introduction to the PA Literacy Framework CD This CD provides materials for a half-day or full-day introduction session to the Framework. It includes Word Documents that will need to be printed and then duplicated for participants prior to the session and a Power Point presentation that describes the purposes for the new revision and the critical experiences included.  Cover Page Word Document 

Half-day and Full-day Schedules

Word Document



Facilitator Directions

Word Document



Initial Activities

Word Document



Power Point Presentation

Power Point



Ouline of the Power Point Presentation Word Document



Activities for Reviewing the Chapters



Evaluation

Word Document

form to be provided by local site

 Oral History CD Origination of this Project This CD is based on a model developed at the Governor’s Institute for Language Arts Educators, a weeklong seminar held in August of 1998, 1999, and 2000 for Pennsylvania teachers. Purposes of this CD  Teach the PA Language Arts Academic Standards in a project-based application.

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Have students learn that oral histories are valid ways to record history and are of equal value to written texts.



Engage communities and schools together in a learning process.

Consortium  Athens Area School District  Huntingdon School District  Lancaster City School District  Souderton Area School District  Elizabethtown College  Tuscarora Intermediate Unit  PA Department of Education  Governor’s Institute  Montgomery County Community College  Tom Graves, Folklife Consultant  Stroudsburg Area School District  University of Pittsburgh

 Language Arts Instructional Formats CD Major Purpose The major purpose for this CD is to provide teachers and administrators with a professional development tool for implementing both:  the Critical Experiences of the PA Literacy Framework and 

the PA Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening Academic Standards.

This CD provides:  Well Designed Classroom Applications – called FORMATS (The fourteen (14) formats outlined in this CD help a teacher to organize for instruction.) 

CONSISTENCY in implementation across a district



A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TOOL for districts

Teachers can use the CD as an individual learner; grade levels, departments or schools can organize a workshop around a single format or a series of sessions that focus on each of the 14 formats. The CD could be used for Act 48 Credit by a provider (district) or by a university (course).

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