How to teach high school reading with elementary literacy curriculum
High school teachers are handed sudden literacy mandates backed only by elementary-level training, such as clapping syllables for seniors, and superficial district PowerPoints. Without research-backed intervention materials or high school-appropriate strategies, educators are left guessing, ignoring the mandates, or running solo without peer support.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1ignoring the mandates until forced to deal with them
- 2watching what other schools decide to do
- 3using kindergarten-level strategies like clapping syllables with older students
- 4Teaching one graphic novel a year
- 5Pre-teaching language used to describe artistic choices in comics
- 6Reading instructional guides like Understanding Comics before teaching
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“So I’m approaching this with what I think is correct information.”source ↗
“But they’re having us clap syllables with seniors. That’s part of the training.”source ↗
“Because I have some peer review on Science of Reading and that’s not in there? But I’m running solo on the reading - perhaps I’m wrong…? Because the district just has PowerPoints and smiles.”source ↗
“Have you taught graphic novels successfully in English class? What are your recommendation and tips?”source ↗
“I want the students to do more, but they’re not there yet. I think a graphic novel would be a good edition.”source ↗
“Handling? We're handling it like I personally handle a lot of things. Ball it up and ignore it until it becomes impossible to ignore.”source ↗
“My school was ahead of the game on the math, but we were caught off guard by the literacy decision. Unfortuneay, there doesn't seem to be any literacy intervention curriculum with much research supporting it.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 4How to change high school science sequence to physics first
- 2Moved to a new school and subject with no notice
- 5How do I get people to actually read project update emails?