Collaborative Approach to Literacy

Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) supports better reading and writing across the curriculum by helping teachers to build engaging Common Core-aligned units. The basic building block is a module–two to four weeks of study comprised of literacy-rich performance tasks and supports that help students complete the task.

1. Teaching tasks are the meaningful reading and writing assignments that teachers “teach” and students “do” to demonstrate they have learned college and career skills. LDC teaching tasks define what students will be asked to do and know: the challenging content and CCSS-aligned literacy skills that become the heart of the LDC module.

2. A skills list engages teachers in backward mapping to identify the reading, writing, and thinking skills students will need to complete that task. Skill clusters group skills into sequencing that will work well for the teaching and learning.

3. An instructional plan in which teachers create or select pre-designed student activities, called “mini-tasks,” and instructional strategies that develop students’ literacy skills and guide them toward completing the teaching task. Each mini-task includes a product students develop, a prompt that gives students clear direction, a scoring guide, instructional strategies that will help complete the mini-task, and a pacing plan estimates how long the unit will take.

• A results section that shows sample student responses to the task and how those pieces scored on an LDC rubric, as well as an option for teachers to design a summative assessment related to the teaching task.

The LDC “relies upon the wisdom of teacher practice, helping teachers take ownership of their own professional growth to drive more powerful outcomes for their students.” LDC modules can stand or be used to construct an entire courses. They can even be linked together to create a school wide approach to literacy across disciplines.

What’s next? After watching these videos, check out CoreTools. It’s like Google docs–a collaborative workspace with a bank of teacher videos and a bank of modules.

You are on your way to helping your students achieve!

See 10 things we like about CoreTools and the LDC.

LDC is a Getting Smart Advocacy Partner.

This blog is brought to you by The Nellie Mae Education Foundation as part of a series on blended humanities. For more stayed tuned for the Getting Smart on Blending Middle Grade Humanities bundle and see the other posts in this series:

• Using Blended Tools to Maximize Instructional Time
• Writing Across the Curriculum With The Literacy Design Collaborative
• Deeper Project Based Learning
• Big History: An Organizing Principle for a Compelling Class, Block or School