Literacy coaching and writing
A peek at how the two are connected

Literacy coaching, which is the current education buzz word for teaching reading comprehension in the content areas, is an essential part of teaching writing. Most students won't be able to identify writing elements to copy in their own writing without literacy training.

The easiest introduction to coaching literacy skill development is in material on how to study.

You’ll find you must approach nonfiction reading material two different ways. One is through structural reading; the other is through close reading.

Structural reading finds clues

Like bad detectives, poor readers don’t recognize clues when they see them. Many can’t read because they aren’t able to pick out the elements to which they need to pay attention. You teach structural reading (also called surveying or previewing reading) so students know what is likely to be important.

The easiest way for students to learn how to find clues to the meaning of expository prose is for you to teach them persuasive writing. The thesis + support pattern used to organize persuasive essays is the basis for most expository writing in students’ texts.

If you teach this way, students will know from personal experience with their own writing . . . . .

• The best places to look for the thesis statement

• Where a body paragraph's topic sentence is likely to be

• How repetition identifies the keywords of a paper.

If you teach the thesis + support pattern, students' writing experiences will help them be better nonfiction readers.

Close reading finds the meat

Close reading is an investigation of what a text says paragraph-by-paragraph.

In the close reading part of literacy coaching, look for the topic sentence of a body paragraph and identify the evidence that explains and supports the main idea of the paragraph.

Also in close reading, you help students see that transitions and linking devices show how an idea is related to the ideas before and after it.

By learning to read closely, students get a better idea what you mean by developing an idea in their own writing. They see examples of how the pattern of thesis + support can be adapted and modified to fit different needs.

Summarizing makes it personal

After students read a paragraph, have them summarize in their own words what they read. If they can’t put the gist into a sentence, they need to read the material again.

Summarizing paragraph by paragraph is a key to studying new material.

Students shouldn’t go on to the next paragraph until they understand what they read — as proven by their ability to summarize it— especially if they are reading directions.

Once you get the hang of literacy coaching, you’ll find it’s easier to teach all aspects of your English language arts curriculum as integrated activities rather than as a series of isolated topics.