Summary

3. Allow your students to make choices: Promoting student choice in the literacy classroom increases engagement and motivation. A robust classroom library allows learners to select books that interest them. Purposeful but openended writing opportunities let students experience the choices that authentic writers make. Of course, you will have to guide students to make good choices through modeling and targeted instruction. 4. Prepare students to independently apply their literacy skills: The ultimate goal is that students can and do transfer the skills they learn in the classroom to real life. Literacy teachers can prepare students to do this by fostering intrinsic motivation, student ownership, authentic inquiry, and productive challenges. 5. Learn the language of effective feedback: Almost every conversation with a student can be a teaching opportunity. Practice using language that validates your readers and writers, draws them into a discussion, allows them to express their needs, and feeds their literacy identities. 6. Establish authentic literacy routines: Use daily routines that center on reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. These routines will form habits for all readers and writers.

Although there is always more to learn when it comes to developing as a reader, writer, and teacher, following this plan will help you become an authentic literacy expert in your own right. Discuss this action plan with your team or book study group. Make a note of questions you may have.

Summary

Authentic literacy means that you choose to lead your students by example. It means that if you haven’t already done so, you begin identifying as a skilled reader and writer. Authentic literacy instruction focuses your preparation on your who—your students—and you meet them where they are by allowing them to drive the content. It means you will need to design your classroom to be more about their interests than yours. You’ll have to get to know them better. You’ll have to learn better ways to ask questions to connect with them. And you’ll have to get them talking about what they think or feel. You’ll see that engagement take off as you search for books they might enjoy. Perhaps a young man loves basketball, and he watches YouTube videos of old-school NBA players. You surprise him with a book written by Kareem or Shaq. (Watch how he talks about that book with the other students.) Maybe a young woman loves dancing, and you show her a list of twenty-five books about dancers, dancing, and so on. You customize this for every student in every classroom, but most important, you customize learning for you—sometimes you’re the who. Imagine those amazing moments when you excitedly share your reading and writing discoveries with your students. Authentic learning comes together when you talk the walk, then walk the talk. You are transformed, and transformation happens for many of your students, too. You will see your students’ respect for you rise—and they’ll follow you in creating wildly positive outcomes for themselves and the world beyond the classroom! To begin this journey, the next chapter explores developing your own authentic literacy expertise.