We are sometimes asked whether Leveled Literacy Intervention is a scripted teaching system.

Here is an example of the type of question we occasionally recieve about this topic.

"If research shows that what really matters is highly effective, educated teachers who are able to make teaching decisions based on his/her students’ needs, why would you create a scripted curriculum in a box? I understand the district’s decision to purchase a boxed curriculum. It’s less expensive than teaching the teacher, but with your Reading Recovery knowledge

I don’t understand why you would create it. Why must LLI teachers even conduct a running record or "reading record" when their next books and word work activities are already planned for them."

We consider Leveled Literacy Intervention neither a “scripted“ nor “boxed” system, but a comprehensive system for supporting teachers’ decision making when working with a small group. In our experience, Reading Recovery teachers have found the system to be very useful as designing a lesson for one child is very different from working with a small group. In fact, many have sent feedback indicating that they have appreciated having a starting point and tools to get started.

You will see as we have written on the blog elsewhere, we do not consider the LLI lesson a script, but a framework of suggested considerations and routines. Teachers learn more and more about how to make better decisions by noticing children. We hope you will have the opportunity to read the System Guide where you will learn that teachers can skip books at a level, focusing on the behaviors they notice, they tailor the suggestions to fit the children they teach, regrouping children as needed, customizing the cards and games with the Lesson Resources CD-ROM etc. They select appropriate language to use with their students from the Prompting Guide and use The Continuum of Literacy Learning to guide their teaching. Reading Recovery teachers have been especially positive as they see that LLI is a system that supports the very principles you describe and is a wonderful complement to their Reading Recovery teaching. We hope you get a chance to talk with more teachers who have had professional development in LLI so they can share with you how the system is intended to be used. As with all materials and professional resources, a teacher must bring thoughtfulness to decision-making. You should know that Heinemann provides both onsite and offsite professional development services to support LLI teachers at all levels.

We discussed the notion of scripted lessons in LLI at greater length in our forum.
http://heinemann.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=52

We hope this helps clarify any misconceptions you may have about the Leveled Literacy Intervention System.

 

Best regards,

-Gay & Irene

As you may have noticed, recently we haven't been able to update our blog as much as we'd like to. This with good reason - we have been busy preparing for our first trip to Australia to promote our Continuum of Literacy Learning, Benchmark Assessment System, and Leveled Literacy Intervention programs.

Right now we are on our way to Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney to work with teachers and administrators on the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System. It is a grueling plane trip but exciting to meet teachers who are using the system down under! We will keep you posted.

A wonderful group of teachers from Tasmania will be coming over to the mainland for our workshop. First stop - Melbourne!

 

Best wishes,

Irene and Gay

We are involved in the enjoyable task of bringing a new book into publication especially for prekindergarten teachers. We hope you will look for and enjoy "Literacy Beginnings: A Prekindergarten Continuum to Guide Teaching", which we hope to publish by late 2010.

In this book we look at the wonderful world of prekindergarten children as they enter literacy in a playful and joyful way. The book includes a continuum of literacy learning for prekindgarten and lots of practice advice gained from observations in classrooms. It's full of children's drawings, language, and emerging writing and reading.

Thank you all for your tireless dedication to the craft of teaching!


Best regards,
- Gay and Irene

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to our blog. We have been working with literacy and reading teachers across the country for several years, and we are very excited about the difference their teaching is making for children. In this blog we will share with you our thoughts and opinions as educators on a variety of topics ranging from Fountas & Pinnell books and programs to educational policy and teaching theory.

Please contribute to this ongoing professional discussion by adding your thoughts as comments to our blog posts. We also invite you to send your questions or article suggestions to us directly using the Contact link at the top of this page. Your input is essential to building a collaborative community of educators dedicated to improving literacy and creating a lifelong love of reading for all learners.

Shared conversations about the children who need the most expert teaching creates an opportunity for us all to learn more about our craft and assure that all children can experience the joy of success.

 

Warmest regards,
Irene and Gay